Free Brussels guide… and it’s good too!

A new guide to Brussels happened to fall into my hands today.

This handy semi-hard cover 15×11cm booklet is actually (and surprisingly) good stuff – it gives a good overview of the city and includes very useful maps (it mimics the format of the Cartoville Guides Gallimard which happen to be my favorite guides for navigating a city since each guide is basically a collection of city maps with some extra information. Great for weekend trips!)

And what makes this Brussels guide even better – the price! Check it out online and get it for FREE at the Brussels Tourist Office at the Grand Place. The guide is available in English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

Now you know where all that taxpayer money goes to!

Maison Cauchie

This is the kind of unexpected, around-the-corner discovery that is well worth your while.

Located at the corner of rue des Francs and avenue des Gaulois, just next to the Parc du Cinquantenaire, you will find a house that stands out for its impressively decorated facade, which is considered one of the gems of Art Nouveau in Brussels.

The house was built in 1905 by famous architect-artist Paul Cauchie and was opened to the public in 1995. (I won’t go into details – it’s best to just visit the house or if you’re not convinced yet, see the website at the end of this post).

The guided tour of the house (only accessible the first weekend of every month, from 11h to 13h and 14h to 18h) starts in the basement (art gallery) and goes up only to the first floor (living room and kitchen), as the floors above are destined for the exclusive use of the owners, who happen to be the excellent tour guides, live in the house and occasionally even entertain a few lucky guests.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this visit is listening to the friendly owner of the Maison Cauchie speak about the whole renovation process and other miscellaneous stories. Have a chat with him and you will discover, among many other interesting factoids, that he used to color Tintin comics when he worked in Herge’s studio!

For detailed information, history and timeline of the Maison Cauchie, visit the Etterbeek website (sorry, info available in French and Dutch only, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!)

The address: Maison Cauchie – Rue des Francs, 5 – 1040 Etterbeek. Information: +32 2 673 15 06 or +32 2 733 86 84

Well worth the EUR 4 entrance fee!

Point Bar: Tubular menus and non-linear dining

Resto point bar is a medium-sized trendy restaurant in the Porte de Namur neighborhood. Tucked away in a small side street off the Boulevard de Waterloo and away from the popular and crowded Saint Boniface dining hotspot, Point Bar seeks to offer not only food, but a new dining concept and experience.

The restaurant has the dim lighting and minimalist, modern decor that seems to define modern “trendy” (subject to debate…). Nothing special there. So what makes this place different?

• The menu takes the shape of an original, illuminated tube (can be hard to read and the lightbulb often switches off by itself, but nevertheless entertaining and cool)
• How you order: For around 20-something euros, you get to pick and choose three dishes (fairly small, tapas-sized) from three categories that could be loosely defined as appetizers, first dish and second dish
• You don’t necessarily have to take one of each category. You can pick two appetizers and one 2nd dish, three 1st dishes, etc. The only thing you can’t do is pick more than one 2nd dish
• All three dishes are then brought to you at the same time (great to mix and match and break with the convention of linear dining!)
• The food is actually good and the size of portions is not excessive (on the other hand, if you are hungry, pick the hamburger and/or other dishes that sound bigger. Otherwise, you might still be hungry…)

This is a great place to discover with friends, dates, colleagues… but not really appropriate for a serious business meal. Reservations are recommended, as it can get quite crowded.

And beware: Point Bar is closed on weekends! (And the entire month of July)

Escape to Paris…

Upon popular (offline) demand, here is the first of many postings on special, time-sensitive offers for cheap travel.

Why not escape to Paris for the weekend or even for the day this summer? Thalys has a special offer right now through June 30: Tickets to Paris for EUR 19 each way. If you prefer to go to Germany, it’s just EUR 10 each way.

Tickets are good for travel between July 7 and September 7, which quite conveniently covers most of the summer sales period in Paris (sales start on June 27 and end on August 4).

More info on the Thalys site. Bon voyage!

About this blog

Just some random tips and ideas of things to do and places to go in Brussels and its “surroundings”, using a broad definition of the term, i.e., Paris, London, Amsterdam, and pretty much any city that can be easily reached by train or plane from Brussels!

More to come soon…