Fiesta latina in Brussels

Next week, on Friday 29/08 and Saturday 30/08, the popular annual latin festival in Brussels: Fiesta Latina

When? Doors will open from noon to 2am on each of the two days.

Where? Louise – Rue du Bailli

How much? EUR 5 entrance fee per day

What? Concerts, dance lessons, salsa contest, and more

Bongo gift vouchers

Bongo gift vouchers are becoming increasingly popular. But what are they exactly?

What?
Simple: Nicely boxed CD-size thematic gift vouchers for activities, meals, wine, and other entertainment, mostly throughout Belgium but occasionally also including locations in The Netherlands, Germany, and France.

What exactly?
The booklet comes with a list of around 30 establishments in which you can redeem the voucher, which can be for a dinner for two, a hotel stay in a chateau for two, cooking lessons, a cultural activity, a bottle of wine and appetizers at a wine bar, etc. etc. (Redemption instructions come in the booklet).

How much?
The pricing is also quite reasonable with boxes starting at EUR 25 (for a lunch, breakfast or wine bar for two), going up to EUR 50, EUR 100+ and all the way up to EUR 3,000. (The lower priced ones are a good deal, but the high-priced ones probably not, as the venues and hotels in the guides are often not the top, exclusive ones you would expect when you’re spending really large amounts of money).

In any case, this is a good gift that beats the more impersonal mall or store gift certificate and allows the gift recipient to explore a bit of Belgium and discover new places or things to do.

Where to buy
The booklets (only in French or Dutch) can be purchased online (you can browse all the packages and locations) or in one of the Bongo shops. There are two shops in Brussels: One in the City 2 shopping center (Metro Rogier) and another one on the lower floor of the Woluwe Shopping Center, across the supermarket. There are also other sales points, like the fnac and the Connections travel agencies, that also sell the Bongo books.

There are also Bongo books in other countries, including Denmark, Sweden, France, The Netherlands and Spain.

Drive-in movies at the Cinquantenaire

The yearly open air drive-in movies at the Cinquantenaire started on August 8 and will run through September 13, on Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets cost EUR 16 per car or EUR 1 per person if you go on foot.

The schedule for upcoming movies:

All films start at 20:00h. My recommendations are marked with an asterisk *

22/08 Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis
23/08 El Dorado
29/08 Sex and the City
30/08 The Love Guru
*05/09 Iron Man
*06/09 Indiana Jones 4
*12/09 Las Vegas 21
13/09 Wanted

Click on the movie titles to see the IMDB movie ratings and reviews (pretty reliable!)

Grand Place Flower Carpet

Like every two years since 1971, the Grand Place will be decorated with a giant flower carpet this coming weekend, from August 15 to August 17.

For those of you leaving for the long weekend, you still have a chance to see it starting on Thursday evening at 20:00h. Always worth a peek, especially if you’ve never seen this before.

The Grand Place is of course open and free to access, but for those of you interested in the panoramic visit (available from 9:00h to 23:00h from August 15-17), there is a fee of 3 euro. This is highly recommended if you intend to take good pictures, since it’s hard to do so from the ground.

For more information on the history and photos and videos of the previous editions, check the official website.

Mamma Mia avant-premiere

If you are an Abba fan or just can’t wait to see the movie Mamma Mia in Brussels, you have the chance to this Friday!

The movie will be showing in avant-premiere at the Cinquantenaire park (metro: Merode, bus 22, 27, 61, 80; tram 81) on Friday, 8 August as the opening film for the yearly drive-in movies in the park. Plus, you don’t need a car to go there – you can always just go on foot and rent a chair (or not).

If you can’t make it, don’t worry, the movie is supposed to be released widely in Belgium next month.

Walk-in movies – free movies at the Cinquantenaire

For the first time, in addition to the Drive-in movies, there will be walk-in movies (free) in the Parc du Cinquantenaire. 8 movies over 4 weeks.

• When? From 13 August through 4 September, every Wednesday and Thursday
• What time? The movies start at 22:00 but gates open at 18:30 with music and a bar with food and drinks (for a fee, of course…)
• What? Different movies, old and less old… a few musicals in the pipeline. The movies to be projected are determined by popular vote via the website. The first two movies will be Grease on 13/08 and La Mome on 14/08.