Something to Declare

The Upper Town Walk

Saturday, October 18, 2025

The Lower Town of Brussels, which we visited yesterday, is more the old renaissance, bourgeois, commercial part. The Upper Town is more the aristocratic, royal part. The start of Rick Steves’ Upper Town Walk is the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon (1060 – 1100).

He is famous not for being the inventor of a way to package beef broth. Rather, he was the Duke of Lower Lorraine, who sold his castle (in Bouillon) at the end of the eleventh century to pay for The First Crusade in 1096.

Godfrey’s statue (above, lower right) is in front of the  Eglise Saint-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg on the the historic Place Royale/Koningsplein, in the Royal Quarter of Brussels. It served as the royal residence until the 1800s.

Then, following our tradition of seeking out Jewish connections when we travel, we went to the Musée Juif de Belgique (left photo below) which was closed. Also closed was the nearby Grand Synagogue of Europe (formerly known as the Great Synagogue of Brussels) (below right). Built in 1878, it was re-dedicated in 2008 as a symbolic focal point for European Jews.

Actually a lot of stuff was closed and/or undergoing renovation in the Upper Town, and we have no idea why. So we followed the maxim:

“When in trouble or in doubt, find a restaurant and eat out.”

We happened upon the Rue de Rollenbeek, a pleasant car-free lane loaded with shops and restaurants, and found a place called C’est Bon C’est Belge.

Pat: This food section is for you: I had made a list of traditional Belgian dishes, and I was hot to try one of them. But C’est Bon C’est Belge had all of them, presented in a dish called C’est Si Bon (see above, top). The dish included (clockwise from the left) Carbonnade Flamande or Stoofvlees (a sweet-and-sour steak-and-ale stew); Waterzooie de Poulet (a soup-like chicken-and-vegetable stew); Stoemp (mashed potatoes, vegetables, bacon and sausage); and Boulets (meatballs). Washed down with Leffe Blonde beer. Stef had a warm salad (above, middle right)cof green beans, carrots, potatoes, onions and hard-boiled eggs, in a warm vinegar dressing. Both highly satisfying.

Our walk also took in the Square de Petit Sablon, and its nearby Church.

A ferris wheel? We’ve encountered lots of ferris wheels in our recent travels to Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. What is it with Europeans and ferris wheels?

Speaking of wheels, the pièce de résistance of our Upper Town walk was the sight of a vehicle pedaled by all of its occupants, who were simultaneously drinking beer and singing at the tops of their lungs:

Apologies for the half naked reveler, we could not crop him out of the photo. Like I said about the Manneken Pis yesterday: A hard act to follow. Till next time, then……….