A private tour of Brussels; A friend for a day; Life ruining frites.
These are just a few of the things I experienced in Brussels when I booked a tour with Joyce. .
Joyce organizes, plans and delivers top-notch tours specialized to an individual or a group. You can request anything from a tour to Flanders fields to a tour to Bruges to just hanging out with her as your pre-purchased friend while you browse through shops at the mall. I don’t recommend the latter because it sounds boring but apparently it happens and to each their own.
I may or may not have cried when I walked into Grote Markt. IT IS SO PRETTY!
Choosing My Tour
The moment Joyce picked me up at the hotel was the very moment that I needed her. I had just left Berlin where I was visiting my best friend. We went to beach bars, hosted impromptu parties, drank beer in the park, and one time my friend, Candice, turned the corner to find me stretched out on a street lounge chair grinning wildly at the world. Needless to say, I LOVED Berlin and was less than pleased to be leaving.
So when I met Joyce, smiling at me with her arm outstretched in my hotel lobby, I immediately felt like I had a friend for the day who was going to show me some incredible things.
I was right.
Joyce has so many different tours that can all be found on her website or you can request a custom tour. I went on the Brussels Gourmet Walking tour. If you know anything about me, you’ll know that the only thing I love more than a walking tour is one that includes food and drink. Add the word “gourmet” in there and you’ve found my happy place.
During The Tour
Thankfully, I took this tour on my first full day in Brussels. I was then able to enjoy the rest of my stay with loads of information about the food, streets, buildings, and history.
I fell in lust with the kriek lambic.
I still have moments when I remember the beer at one of our stops, À la Bécasse, and feel sad. Also thirsty. I went back to that bar at least three times during my stay.
At another beer stop (that’s right… another) we were greeted by the most knowledgeable bartenders I’ve ever met. This is where my beer snobbery began. All I had to say was “something not too hoppy… but I want it to taste like beer with maybe a hint of, oh I don’t know, something else?” and the bartender knew exactly which beer to bring me out of the dozens offered.
This photo was not taken during my tour. It was taken one of the other 7 times I had frites.
At the beginning of this post I referred to these frites as life ruining and I stand by that. I can’t even eat fries anymore without thinking (possibly tearing up over?) these frites which I’m sure is terribly annoying to my friends.
Guess what we had next?
Guess!
CHOCOLATE!!!
There was chocolate in the shape of manneken pis (obviously).
My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I slithered down onto the floor and cried myself into a salted caramel cluster dream.
Pretty close, anyway.
In addition to the delicious samples, Joyce toured me around the city with interesting historical facts, fun tales, and let me in on some fun things to do and see in the area as well as places to avoid (hint: if people are begging you to sit and eat at their restaurant… don’t).
Belgium is famous for it’s beer and chocolate but I couldn’t completely understand why until I tried it for myself in this historical yet hip (and painfully beautiful) city.
Nice post, Brussels a good place to visit. Beer and Chocolate worth trying for. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Good post and blogger is providing lot of useful information for travellers.