Earlier this month, I visited Brussels for the Christmas season and to see the Christmas market. This was my third ever visit to Brussels having visited twice already this year in February and in April. With only a two-hour journey via train from London, Brussels is a quick and easy trip for a long weekend. For the festive season, Brussels hosts a Christmas market and a a light show projected onto the Grand Place square. There are also other activities and shopping, tourist attractions, and more festive cheer.
I watched the light show projections onto the Grand Place, which I enjoyed and covered in a separate post on this blog. You can see my experience here: [INSERT LINK]
Brussels' famous icon, the Manneken Pis also is worth seeing, and there's a couple of different costumes of a festive nature that he adorns in December. One of them is Saint Nicholas. You can see photographs here: [INSERT LINK]. I also saw someone dressed as Saint Nicholas and his sidekick known as "Black Peter" as I visited on Dcember 6th, which is a special day in Belgium.
In the Grand Place square, there is also a large nativity scene.
And someone with some vintage cars was offering rides.
I then headed to the markets. Most of the Christmas market stalls are near Saint Catherine's Church. There are a few clusters on the way from the Grand Place to Saint Catherine's. I browsed at the items and bought some items, including a nice perfume, fruit jam, nougat, hot chocolate, caramels, and cuberones.
The man who made the flowers out of soap told me of the carving process. I didn't have anyone to gift these to, and I wouldn't use such an item collecting dust. However, they do look pretty.
There was a model city or nativity scene in one of the stalls on display.
Saint Catherine's area has most of the stalls and a giant ferris wheel. I spent awhile browsing here.
I bought a hot chocolate, which tasted delicious. You pay for the cup, but you get the money back for the cup if you return it. This helps sustainability. I also bought a mulled flaming wine later one, and this is pictured at the top. They lit a brown sugar cube on fire for it.
There are different Christmas lights around the city, and I photographed some of them.
The Royal Galleries of Saint Hubert are always worth a visit. There are some expensive shops and a fair share of chocolate shops to visit. Inside, it is decorated for Christmas.
The below light sculpture is located near Art Mountain, which I suppose is an appropriate place for it. There were a couple of food stalls near here.
And lastly, I enjoyed delicious ice cream (despite the weather being a little bit cold) from Gaston near the Christmas markets. I had the pistachio and the speculoo ice cream, and these were both delicious.
I enjoyed the visit to Brussels at Christmas. It's definitely worth a visit.
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