There goes the neighborhood. Imagine what the neighbors must have thought about the arrival of Art Deco on their block.
This post veers from my usual Art Deco patter because It’s directed to a particular group: you lucky folks who will be visiting Brussels, Belgium as part of the 2025 World Congress on Art Deco. But anyone curious about Belgium might find it worth a read.
Backstory: This all started with the announcement that this year’s Art Deco congress in Paris would have an optional stop in Brussels. I’d seen a lot of Art Deco in Paris; after almost 50 years documenting Art Deco architecture, one would hope so! But I knew embarrassingly little about Belgium. Not being a regular Facebook user, I would occasionally see posts from Andres Sorin of the Brussels Art Deco Society that looked incredible yet somehow, Belgium stayed in the back of my mind. Finally, with the upcoming World Congress, I started doing my research and was shocked at the quantity and quality (preservation) of what I saw.
Coincidentally, Brussels has it’s own annual event, the BANAD festival (Brussels Art Nouveau & Art Deco=BANAD) so I went! The festival is held on three successive weekends and I went to the first two, setting my own agenda during the week in between. I also traveled around the country, but at the end of eleven days, I had barely scratched the surface so I’ll be returning in October for the Brussels portion of the Congress event.
There was some unfair criticism of the BANAD brochures. Yes, the type is small, but each brochure has 30-40 events, in 3 languages, plus a map. Consider the work required to pull all this together!
Long story short–ok, its not short, I apologize–I picked up a Rick Steves guidebook, and besides recommending seeing all of Belgium in just a few days–a sort of “don’t overlook the place if you’re close by” posture–most of what I wanted to see was literally off the map. I mean, it’s fun to learn that Belgians invented French fries, but that wasn’t the information about Brussels’ neighborhoods that I was looking for.
I’ll post photos in subsequent posts but for now, while It’s still fresh in my mind, here are
25 Things I Learned About Brussels
My observations on things that may be useful if you haven’t been to this lovely little country. Are there mistakes here? Probably. So feel free to correct me.
(1) Don’t even think of driving in Brussels. Things get less insane when you get south of the airport, but not much less. And, as with any great city, there is no parking.
(2) The people are exceptionally friendly and will usually switch to English if you ask. Interestingly, Dutch speakers have flawless English whereas French speakers sound like French speakers. It was explained to me that English is considered imperative for Dutch speakers because there aren’t many places where you can get by with Dutch.
(3) Virtually all transactions are electronic. Even the guys with the waffle carts take Visa, MC, Apple Pay. However, American Express is not widely accepted outside hotels and nicer restaurants.
(4) I had no problems with pickpockets or sketchy characters. In fact, in 11 days, I never made a cash transaction so in theory, you don’t even need a wallet! I got $300 worth of Euros at Frankfurt Airport and on my return to the US, I still had 300 Euros–which will probably be worth $500 USD by this fall.
(5) There is one transaction that remains cash-only. Some public restrooms require a coin or two. In any event, restaurant and museum restrooms are free.
(6) You may run into panhandlers but they don’t speak English.
(7) Molenbeek, supposedly a rough area, seemed tame to me. In fact, I heard complaints about it becoming too gentrified.
(8) Convenience stores like Carefour are all over. Baked goods are fresh and delicious everywhere, even at the convenience store. Belgians are not into big breakfasts so to get off to a quick start, I grabbed a croissant. A croissant filled with Belgian chocolate is a beautiful thing. Two of those and I was ready to go. I did have mushroom pancakes once, but that was for lunch (see below).
(9) There are some fine Deco and a few streamline moderne commercial buildings in the central downtown but for my money, the most intriguing 20th century stuff is in the residential areas.
(10) The largest concentration of Art Deco is to the south, in the Forest, Uccle, Ixelles areas. Saint-Giles, in the same area, has breathtaking Art Nouveau including the Horta Museum, but very little Art Deco. Other fantastic areas are Etterbeek and Schaearbeek. To the north is the Palais du Centennaire from the 1935 expo, and to the east is the Palace Stocklet (not open to public).
(11) Public transit is comprehensive but not necessarily swift. Street names and tram-bus-train names can be in French and/or Dutch…or some abbreviation because the full name is just too long. Unless you know exactly how to get there, allow 30-40 minutes to get anywhere. I found I could travel north-south much faster than east-west. The only thing they announce in English is which side to exit.
(12) If you’re at a tram-bus-train stop and not sure which direction to go, get on the side of the street where the most people are standing. Even if you guess wrong, you can always get off at the next stop. Even if the name on the tram-bus-train doesn’t match the name on Google Map (common), the stops should.
(13) I never figured out the payment scheme for public transit. As far as I could tell, passes are usually not less expensive than paying for individual trips. The deal with individual trips (I think) is that you pay once on boarding (touch phone or card to electronic terminal) and that’s good for 90 minutes. After that, you’re supposed to pay again(?) I lost track of this and paid once in the morning. For each day, I got billed about $9.
(14) Walking is a treat in such a beautiful city, but even if you’re lucky it will be on pavers (blocks). More likely, you’ll walk on cobblestones. New Yorkers need no introduction to cobblestones but if you’re not sure about them, just wear the most flat bottomed shoes you have.
(15) Google Map says “mostly level”. Nope. Brussels isn’t San Francisco, but there are inclines and stairs everywhere. Entire neighborhoods like Forest and Fort-Jaco are lower than the surrounding area.
(16) Brussels is wonderfully informal unless you like being formal. I was recommended to a seafood restaurant with a Michelin star—candles, soft music, etc—feeling embarrassed in my black jeans. Then, a couple young guys wearing hoodies and basketball sneakers came in and nobody blinked.
(17) Brussels gets damp and if the wind blows, it can feel cold after sundown. Assuming October weather is like what I encountered in March, think Chicago weather.
(18) Intercity trains are wonderful, fast, and dirt cheap. A second class senior ticket between Brussels and Ghent was less than $10. First and second class seem to be the same except on double-decker cars, the upper level has a small “1” in a circle. First class is less crowded but I never traveled at rush hour, if there is a rush hour, so there was always room.
(19) The largest group of chocolate shops is on or near the Grand Place, but if you’d rather not stand in line (Chinese tourists adore Belgian chocolate) you’ll get a second opportunity in the duty free shops at the airport.
(20) Cars will always stop for you in crosswalk. Always. It’s amazing.
(21) Everybody bicycles everywhere so if you’re up to it….
(22) The Grand Place (the famous center of Brussels) and the less famous Bourse are connected, and thus more or less the same place (?)
(23) Belgium has more women than men. At least, that was my observation. One thing I’m still struggling with is young women offering me their seat on the tram. Really? Am I that old?
(24) When in doubt, pronounce as if it was French. Rogier is Row-zhay; Flagey is Flah-zhay.
(25) The guidebooks talk about the importance saying bonjour, but I sometimes forgot. What everybody does say, all the time, is voila! It means: OK, done, finished, problem solved, settled, success, thank you, you’re welcome and of course the all-important “this is your stop”. And with that, I’ll end this list—voila!
