King Albert I Statue

Hello everyone, welcome to Brussels! My name is Natalie and today, I’ll be showing you around the highlights of Brussels. I want to start with an interesting and surprising fact about the capital of Belgium. Did you know that Brussels is the second most diverse city in the world? I’m sure those of you who come from cities as New York, London or Toronto might be skeptical and I was too when I first heard this. But, 7 out of 10 people officially residing in Brussels were not born in Belgium. That is of course a direct consequence of Brussels’ status as the capital of the European Union, with many civil servants from all over Europe living and working in the city but also those who work for international NGO’s, banks, companies and consulates that want to be close to the EU headquarters. By the way, in case you were wondering, number 1 is Dubai.

 

Another essential fact about Brussels as we’re walking around, is that Brussels is bilingual, that is why you can see two names on each street sign: in French and in Dutch. It is the only bilingual part of Belgium, the north, Flanders, speaks Dutch (sometimes referred to as Flemish, but it’s the same) and the south, Wallonia speaks French (and a small part German, but let’s not make it too complicated now). But as you might have noticed, English is very widely spoken as well.

 

I like to start tours of Brussels at this location, the foot of the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg, because it is the border of the two main parts of the historical center. Up the mountain (yes we call this a mountain in Belgium, berg or mont), Upper Town, the Royal or Aristocratic Quarter, and behind us Lower Town, where the common lived and worked, not necessarily poor, this includes very wealthy merchants and the trades but not of blue blood. With the Main Square, the Grand Place, as its center.

 

And who else is better to welcome us to the Royal Quarter than probably the most popular king of Belgians, King Albert I, also known as the King-Soldier, because he remained with his troops on the frontline for the entire 4 years of the First World War, the highest ranking commander of all warring nations. He was very well respected for this, it is even claimed that he was never targeted by the Germans (in addition of being the cousin of the German Emperor). If you turn around and look across the street, you’ll see a much smaller statue of a woman, that was his wife, Queen Elizabeth, she was also active on the frontline as a nurse. 

 

We’ll now walk across the park and climb the steps of the hill. The view will be worth it!