Flower Carpet in Brussels

Two years ago I moved to Brussels to work as an au-pair and I immediately fell in love with the city. Brussels was ten times bigger than the town I previously lived in and I never felt like I explored every nook and cranny of it as much as I wanted to. Therefore, I make it a requisite to visit it at least once a month since I now live in Spa. So this August, we made sure to witness the Flower Carpet for ourselves!

Usually I don’t even need a very important reason to go to Brussels but this was a rare and special occasion. The Flower Carpet is a bi-annual tradition happening in Brussels since 1971, each time with a special theme brought to life with 600,000 begonias. This year the theme was honoring the 150 years of Belgo-Japanese friendship and the design was impeccable.

We were planning on visiting the Flower Carpet since I missed the last one two years ago when I moved here but we were even more motivated to go after I won two tickets with access to the town hall balcony. I would like to thank VisitBrussels for that opportunity because the view was great! Also, since we had vouchers, we walked past hundreds of people waiting in line since there was nobody in ours – I’m not going to lie, that was the coolest way to skip a line!

The Flower Carpet is a big tourist attraction hence the long waiting lines, which in total made the balcony walkthrough rather short but still enjoyable. Plus, we got to see grandiose rooms of the town hall. Furthermore, being on the balcony gave me a chance to take photos of the Grand Place buildings from a different perspective.

Considering the fact that the balcony is only ever open during those four days of the Flower Carpet, I felt lucky to get to capture the Grand Place’s splendid architecture up-close.

A new café recommendation in Brussels

After the town hall, we ran away from the crowds and stumbled upon OR Espresso Bar. The second we noticed the interior influenced by industrial design, we were hooked. Personally, I don’t like coffee (I know, I’m weird) so I went with a homemade lime lemonade which was a refreshing choice.

Since Saturday was the beginning of a four-day weekend for us, we decided to only spend a few hours in Brussels. Moreover, we were exhausted due to watching the Perseids meteor shower the night before. In the end, we spent the rest of our time in Brussels rummaging through vinyl shops and bookstores before heading home for much-needed relaxation. The month of August looks exciting – lots of long weekends, lots of road trips, definitely more blog posts! Until then, enjoy some photos of the Flower Carpet and of Brussels!