Curious Traveler

- This truly cosmopolitan city was founded by its hard-working merchants and traders.

It went on to become a political city, a royal city, and a religious city.

The average local speaks at least three languages, and it is known around the world for its fine chocolates.

It is time to get curious about Brussels.

(cheerful music) Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

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- This European city is known for three of my favorite things: chocolate, fritz, and Brussels sprouts, two official languages, French and Dutch, and one truly irreverent spirit.

(speaking foreign language) Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the headquarters for the European Union.

It's also known as the capital of Europe.

But you knew that already, didn't you?

But what you may not know is the Brussels also lies near the border between Flanders and Wallonia.

What's a Wallonia?

Well, Wallonia is the southers region of Belgium, and Flanders is the northern region.

In Wallonai, people traditionally speak French, which in Flanders, people traditionally speak Flemish, which is a form of Dutch.

Why the divide?

Well, that's a long and curious history.

The short version is that, over the centuries, many kingdoms and empires fought and ruled over this prized territory of the low countries, including the Spanish, the French, the Dutch, and the Austrian Hapsburgs.

Belgium finally became its own country in 1830.

So, what does all of this have to do with Brussels?

Well, it partly explains why Brussels is such a truly bilingual city: French and Dutch.

In fact, you'll see street signs in both languages all over the city.

And that curious history also helped to create the European melting pot that is today's Brussels.

We will explore Brussels curious architecture, its stunning art legacy, a couple of quirky monuments, and a traditional and tasty way to help the medicine go down.

So, here's what I'm curious about in Brussels: Who made Brussels so wealthy?

Hint: they worked here.

What made Flanders such a source of master artists?

Where can you walk through the pages of a comic book?

Why is Brussels' city hall a little wonky?

When did this become the symbol for Brussels, and possibly this?

How did Belgium's tasty chocolate heritage begin?

So much to be curious about in Brussels.

(upbeat accordion music) We begin our curious journey into Brussels at the grandest of public squares: Le Grand Place.

Its beauty, its eclectic architecture, and its history gives it its UNESCO World Heritage status.

Le Grand Place is lined by dozens of over-the-top gilded guild houses, all not-so-subtle expressions of Brussels' wealth from the 17th century.

But, as grand as this city center is, it has a rather humble and curious history.

We're in the heart of Brussles, or Bruxel, in Le Grand Place.

Very grand, very grand today, but it didn't always look this way.

How did this area start?

It's always been a big part of Brussels' history.

- This square started to appear actually as a marketplace.

'Cause you said this is Le Grad Place.

That's the name in French, one of the two official languages in Brussels today.

Originally, the language here is Flemish, or a form of Dutch.

And in Dutch it's Grote Markt.

- Oh, market, yeah!

- The Big Market, 'cause originally this was a popular marketplace.

No gold at all, not displayed so-- - I was going to say, it's a little gilded for a regular farmers market, what we would think of.

- Exactly.

Like even that building over there.

In Flemish, they still call it after its original function: Broodhuis, the Bread House.

So they used to sell bread there.

Now it's the museum of the city of Brussels.

So, all the street names and also name of buildings refer to the older functions of them.

- [Christine] And that humble history lives on in these grand buildings today, especially these glorious buildings.

They are narrow, usually only four or five stories tall, with beautiful ornamentation at the top and plenty of gold.

These are the buildings that built Brussels; the all-important guild halls.

Because of its norther European location and its proximity to the sea, Brussels became a major trading city during the Middle Ages.

And the wealth you see on these buildings grew out of that trade.

The guild halls were the mini-corporations of the Middle Ages.

- So, each house represented a profession important in the Middle Ages for the life of Brussels.

- That's amazing!

That's amazing.

- Can you guess which one still exists?

There's only one guild still present on the square.

- Well, you had me at bread, and so my mind went off.

So, let me look around.

- Think of Belgian stereotypes.

– Belgian stereotypes are all good: chocolate.

- Yeah, still Middle Ages, so we haven't discovered America.

- Oh, that's right, that's right, so no cocoa.

What would be the guild ... (chuckling) Beer?

- Yeah!

(laughing) The House of Brewers is over there, yeah, of course.

- So the same place it's always, or at least for centuries.

It's the same spot.

- At least since the 17th century, yeah.

- Wow!

- Basically, today it's the Belgian beer museum.

It's more symbolic than a real guild with an influence on the market, but yes, it's still there.

Yeah, yeah.

- Now, the guild halls and the other buildings you see today were actually rebuilt after the square was destroyed by Louis XIV in 1695.

And it was during that extreme makeover that one particular color scheme was chosen: gold, and lots of it.

(cash register dinging) It's not just the beautiful architecture here but all the gold everywhere.

Is the gold symbolic of something, or somebody just thought this is really pretty and we'll decorate like this?

- So, there's probably a bit of that, especially when you know it happened after the demolish by the French army, and they wanted to show that, after that destruction, it was even more beautiful.

And also probably it's related, some people say, to alchemy.

You know, like the gold coming out of the waste, simple metal.

When you know that Brussels was built on a swamp, and that's what the name actually means, this shows that, from that wasteland, some great things, rich things and beautiful things can come up.

- That's fantastic.

And there are more curiosities to explore here, like the number seven.

What I love about a beautiful location like this is it's not just the beauty, it wasn't just a useful purpose but it's got some great symbolism here too.

What's some of the symbolism they have here?

- So all of that, of course, is unofficial, but some people say, in terms of numbers, for instance, it's not by accident.

Like take the number seven.

You have here actually one, two on the other side of the town hall, three, four on that side of that building, five, six, and a seventh street there.

And actually, they're not regular.

Could have been six, could have been eight.

That number you find, actually, on another important building: the House of the Dukes.

- Right here.

- It's singular now, it's one single house, but if you count the number of doors, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Again, how come?

And even, actually, our town hall is really weird, like us actually.

When you look at it, you notice it's not symmetric.

Some people say that they wanted some proportions again of the number seven on one side and 12 on the other side, another important number, universally and notably in alchemy.

So, we're not really sure about that, but I like also that-- - I love that!

I love that.

So we've got a lot of sevens.

We've got seven streets, we have seven doors over there, which I notice now.

- And with that, again, magic number.

(chuckles) - Magic number, excellent, excellent.

(mysterious music) And it is down one of these magical streets that we meet an iconic figure who just couldn't find a restroom.

The famous Manneken Pis.

He's been watering his fountain here since 1619.

This cute little guy is a very big deal here in Brussels.

It is, of course, the famous Manneken Pis statue, the beloved symbol of the city.

Now, why we have this adorable little boy relieving himself in the middle of the city, well, there's a lot of theories about that.

One at least has a little bit of truth to it, and it says that little boys about his age were actually encouraged to relive themselves onto pieces of leather here in the streets.

Why?

Well, these streets used to be the homes of all the different tanneries.

And, yes, that story does have a little bit of truth to it.

The second theory probably has no truth to it, but I love it because it's so dramatic.

That theory says that this statue is based on an actual little boy who was a spy for Brussels and foiled an attack by the enemy by simply going pee-pee on the explosives and thus saved the town.

(exploding) But, did you know the Manneken Pis isn't the only statue forever using the loo here in Brussels?

There's also this guy, a dog named Het Zinneke, installed in 1998.

Here's the best part.

Locals say the Het Zinneke is a truer symbol of Brussels, more so than than the Manneken Pis.

Why?

Well, because of Brussels' irreverent spirit.

In fact, a Brussels local is sometimes called a Zinneke.

(whimsical orchestral music) Next, let's explore some more curious public art and take a stroll through pages and pages of classic comic books splashed across the streets and buildings of Brussels.

In fact, even the street signs have special plaques with a comic book character, a book, or the artists' names.

Why all this hoopla over comic books?

Well, because Belgium is known as the home of the comic book.

Belgian comic artists are credited with the invention of many comic creations, including the speech bubble.

At one point, Belgian artists drew about 80% of all comics in Europe.

(playful music) Brussels is also known for its art, but not just any type of art: comic strip art, which is why you can see the comic strip art walking tour all throughout the city.

You can see these gorgeous, larger-than-life murals on entire sides of buildings, all bragging about their most famous comic strips.

And there's nobody more famous than little Tintin, who debuted in 1929 and has been going on adventures ever since.

(playful music) Tintin is the unlikely Belgian hero, a blonde quaffed teenage detective who travels the world to investigate and battle the bad guys.

What makes Tintin so important to Belgium is that, while his adventures were fictional, they most certainly mirrored the political movements, and even the wars, of his time.

Also along the comic book route there is Victor Sackville, the sort of James Bond of World War I, Billy the Cat, made for children but loved by adults too, and then there's Asterix.

Asterix debuted in 1959 in a Franco-Belgian magazine.

Asterix is the ancient Gallic hero forever fighting off the Romans along with his rotund pal named Obelix.

So, this spunky, winged-helmeted symbol of French pride is forever adored here in Brussels.

(quirky string music) Next, we elevate our artistic tastes a bit from street art to Flemish masterpieces.

And to do that, we stroll along the Mont des Arts, which feels like its own little oasis within the larger city of Brussels, full of museums, libraries, historic buildings, public art projects, and these gardens.

(elegant orchestral music) It is fitting that Brussels would have a center dedicated to art, because in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, Flanders was the center for Northern Renaissance master artists.

Rubens, van Eyck, and Bruegel are just a few of the masters and pioneers of an art form that celebrated realism, detail, and created paintings that seemed to spring to life off the canvas.

Which brings us back to the Mont des Arts, where, inside one of those artsy buildings, Flemish art really springs to life in a whole new way.

It's one thing to get to see these masterpieces in person, hanging on a wall inside a museum.

It is something else altogether to get to actually stand inside them and experience the imagination of the artists.

These are the works of Peter Bruegel.

Bruegel spent his final years painting here in Brussels.

This is a special exhibit to commemorate the 450th anniversary of his death.

As surreal and unusual as Bruegel was, this unusual and amazing immersive experience is fitting.

His most famous works are projected, not just onto the walls but also onto the ceilings, the floors, all around you, so you feel like you're stepping into his paintings.

But it doesn't stop there.

No, you're not seeing things.

Those little birds are flapping their wings, those mountains are growing, and that little child is skating.

Rubens, van Eyck and others, what was happening in that time period in Flanders that just, and I always find it interesting.

Renaissance, Italian Renaissance painters, there was something happening in Italy there, in Florence, that produced so many great master artists.

What was happening in Flanders that did the same here?

- So we talk about Rubens, van Eyck, Bruegel, we talk about the 15th to the 17th century, and this was really a period in time where Flanders was really flourishing.

We had a lot of trade going on.

We had many new things in science popping up here.

But it was also a great place for artists to meet.

We call it sometimes the golden ages of Flanders, and this really makes it a special period for our artists to live here.

And they all traveled a lot to Italy or to other places in Europe, but they all decided to come back and to really stay here and take all their learnings back to Flanders and to really paint here.

- [Christine] In fact, the Flemish masters were so influenced by the Italian Renaissance that some of them incorporated Italian landscapes into their works, including Bruegel.

- He took little pieces everywhere, and he made a new construction in the paintings.

- Bruegel is known for his painting of peasants, like the shopkeeper, the winemaker, the sailor, and the mother.

He is also known for his stunning landscapes, which come to life here at the exhibition.

But there is also another subject matter that Bruegel is famous for: his religious and philosophical paintings.

Some of them include some rather disturbing visions of the afterlife, so let's go back to the pretty little pictures of the snow.

(whimsical orchestral music) Next, it's back outside we go to explore some of Brussels most beautiful architecture, down its winding streets lined with darling cafes and shops and a curious mix of architectural styles.

One of the things I absolutely love here, in New York for a city, the Dutch or the Flemish influence here, not just with the language but the architecture.

We see these lovely, narrow buildings, not too tall, and then the little peak roofs, where it looks like those little steps going up.

- With many things in this city and in this country, it's a blend of all things French and all things Dutch and this collision of the two.

Behind us, you can see Dutch-style architecture, you can see Baroque-style architecture, you can see Parisian-style architecture, you can see Art Nouveau.

It's a very local, Brussels kind of concept of artwork and architecture.

So, that, like I said, that blend of everything together, it's all here and it's all on display all the time.

- All the time!

Throughout Brussels, you will see these darling, tall but narrow buildings which are typical throughout the low countries of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Why so narrow?

Well, because owners were taxed on the width of their buildings.

So, less width equaled fewer taxes.

So, when you do see one that is actually pretty wide, you will know that a wealthy person lived or worked there.

And there's even more architecture to explore.

The Royal Palace of Brussels is glorious.

Belgium's King Leopold II made sure that his palace was larger than London's Buckingham Palace.

But who's counting?

But don't expect to see the Belgian king and queen having their morning coffee or tea on one of the balconies here.

This is where the royal family works.

They live somewhere else.

(upbeat accordion music) The Belgian monarchy was established in 1831, soon after Belgium became an independent country in 1830.

But not only did the Belgian king and queen get this beautiful palace; they also got another glamorous Belgian building named for them, which happens to be the perfect spot for some Belgian chocolates.

(upbeat accordion music) Since Brussels, of course, was founded on the backs of merchants, I think it's so fitting that we're inside this beautiful gallery today.

It's just beautiful.

It really is!

(chuckles) - This is the Royal Galleries, and they were built to commemorate the first king and queen of Belgium.

(elegant orchestral music) The Royal Galleries are also called the Royal Galleries of Saint-Hubert, after the old Rue Saint-Herbert street that ran through here.

The long colonnades inspired by Florence were built in the early 19th century.

Why?

Well, to connect the lower city with the upper city but in an elegant way to encourage the upper class to stroll through and shop here.

This area used to be an impoverished neighborhood, which the upper class would never have strolled through, so it was simply torn down to make way for this.

From dilapidated to delightful, the idea was elegance for the new Florentine Renaissance-style arcades, which included theaters, cafes, and lots and lots of shops.

This luxury attracted the most famous names of the era, like Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, and Alexandre Dumas.

Artists, thinkers, even film pioneers the Lumiere brothers, gathered and performed here.

The Royal Galleries were quite the see-and-be-seen spot of the 19th century for the wealthy, of course, to promenade down, wearing their finest.

Probably would not have seen so many jeans and sneakers back then.

But these gorgeous, wide windows would have definitely been here back then, with displays just as creative, as detailed, and as enticing as what you see today, all to lure in customers with promises of fine goods and tasty goodies inside.

(elegant orchestral music) Lots of interesting architectural details in here.

There's two that I find fascinating, one above us, and in the second it looks like there's a bit of a curve behind us.

What do we have here?

- So, well, the first, the glass-domed roof was revolutionary for its time.

The glass-domed roof was originally put here because, you may have noticed, in Belgium it rains quite a lot.

- Quite a bit.

(chuckles) - So they wanted to have a place that was inside but also outside as well.

So this glass-domed roof gave that feeling.

- The second curious architectural feature are the three sections of the galleries: the King's Gallery, the Queen's Gallery, and the Prince's Gallery.

Some sections are around 100 yards long.

And, if you look closely, you will see a curious little curve between the sections.

It is believed that this was added simply to create visual interest.

(moving orchestral music) And inside these galleries, we find a tasty Belgian tradition: the Belgian chocolate shop.

I love, even before we get to the chocolate part, which is the most important part, the design, it's a little Art Nouveau, and that's not really true of every single shop here.

Just this one, or just a few?

- A few of the shops in here have tried really hard, even though we move into the modern era, keep their original furnishings, keep their original decorations.

Got lots of beautiful things here with the mirrors, the ceiling, and then the back room as well.

And they've really tried to keep the authentic kind of nature of the way these shops used to look, even before they were chocolate shops.

- Right.

(inspiring orchestral music) Belgian chocolates are legendary, considered the finest in the world.

But why?

Well, one reason is because of the 1840 law that requires that the chocolate have a minimum of 35% cocoa.

But of course, there are other reasons, too, like the traditional and often top-secret recipes and creativity of the individual chocolatiers.

Tasting this bit of Brussels history is an absolute must.

And, if you're brave, the chocolate shop is also a good spot to try out your Dutch or your French, if you dare.

(speaking in foreign language) How do I say "recommend"?

That's it for my French.

(speaking in foreign language) (chuckling) Which type, or all the types, do you recommend?

- It depends, really, on what you like the most.

Like, do you like dark chocolate much?

- I like dark and milk.

So, in other words, I like them all.

But the most Belgian are these, the traditional Belgian praline, a hard chocolate shell filled with all manner of delicious sugary concoctions.

And the praline was possibly names in the 17th century after the Count of Praline, which is a small town in French.

(Frenchman laughing) There's also the iconic Cornet Dore, which is a tribute to the paper cones that chocolates used to be served in; that is, until the Ballotin, or chocolate box, was invented.

That's right, right here in Brussels.

So, let's fill our Ballotin.

- This one violet, because this is really good.

- [Christine] Okay.

- This is a sweet flower.

- [Christine] Oh, I like that!

So, there's little pieces of flower inside and outside?

- Yes.

- Oh, nice.

- You'd never guess that the origins of all this Belgian sweetness came from Spanish explorers and Belgian pharmacists.

How did it all start here?

Was it in this area or nearby?

Where did the Belgian chocolate fame start?

- So, Belgian chocolate began because of Belgium's historical connection with Spain.

We were ruled by Spain for quite a long time.

(regal orchestral music) - [Christine] The tasty history of Belgian chocolate begins in the 17th century, when Belgium was rules by Spain.

Spanish explorers discovering the New World of the Americas brought back this crazy new thing called cocoa.

Later, in the 19th century, we get to the most curious part of the story: the connection between pharmacies and chocolates.

- So there were chocolatiers here in central Brussels who were pharmacists.

And we all know from Mary Poppins, spoon full of sugar-- - Helps the medicine ... (chuckles) - Medicine go down.

And then, so, they started to experiment with putting sugar into their medicines.

They became eventually confectioners, and then eventually from that they ended up becoming chocolatiers.

- Oh, I love it!

I love it.

They soon discovered that the chocolate, minus the medicine, was so popular that pharmacies started selling specialty chocolates all on their own, and the legacy of Belgian chocolate was born.

So, you won't find any medicine inside these Belgian chocolates today, just lots of sugary, gooey delights.

And the best part?

Even if you can't pronounce them, you can still eat them.

Do you know the expression "too pretty to eat"?

- [Vendor] No, but now I do.

- No, it's pretty and I'm going to eat it.

(laughing) (upbeat accordion music) So, from a place so grand it's practically dipped in gold to our darling little boy who really had to go to a daring young man who became a Belgian hero to a Flemish master who saw the beauty in the simple life as well as the surreal life to art in the form of architecture whose width equaled its wealth to a palace with a king and queen and later an exquisite shopping arcade named for the king and queen which houses the history and the delights of those Belgian chocolates that are okay to indulge in because they're a history lesson, right?

Brussels has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and how's of curious Brussels.

As they say here, (speaking foreign language).

(playful music) Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

- [Narrator] For more than 45 years, Vacations By Rail has been helping travelers explore the world with a collection of rail journeys and luxury river cruises through awe-inspiring nature and cosmopolitan cities, from America's national parks to Europe and beyond.

Vacationsbyrail.com.

At GET, we believe travel is more than just getting away.

It's about experiencing a destination and iconic sites and delving deep into local culture.

Learn more GETours.com.

SmarTours offers group tours to over 50 must-see destinations around the world.

With SmarTours, we want you to enjoy the fun of travel while we do the planning for you.

The journey begins at smartours.com.

- [Christine] Still curious?

Go to curioustravelertv.com and follow us on Facebook @CuriousTravelerTV, on Twitter @CuriousTravTV, and on Instagram @CuriousTravelerTV.