Brussels doesn't have a Christmas Market
per se, but rather the
Plaisirs d'Hiver (or the Winter Wonders). It's spread out in the area around St. Catherine, and comprises lots of stalls, a ferris wheel, ice-skating rink, ice sculptures and roundabouts. But in true Belgian style, they're not just roundabouts, but fantastic gothic, old-style carnival roundabouts with fantastic mechanised creatures and machines. It would make you wish to be a child again.
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There was an ice bar located near St. Catherine's church - entry was €5 per person and this included two shots of liquor. The inside was maintained at a refreshing -15 Celsius and the shots were definitely needed to keep the cold at bay. I got several great shots from inside the ice bar, all drenched in a fantastic
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Lots of stalls around the market were selling food-to-go. You could take your choice of waffles, crepes, burgers, bratwurst, mussels, oysters and seafood. We ourselves went for 6 oysters with glasses of white wine and gluhwein, which were fresh, plump and deliciously briny. Later, at the other end of the market, we found a stall selling mussels grilled with garlic and rosemary, so of course we had to go for some of these beauties as well.
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We shopped with determination at the market so that we could bring home delicious edibles with us. Near the Bourse, we found a stall which was selling dried, smoked beef. €15 bought us enough of this truly tasty delicacy to take home to the parents for Christmas. Later, near St. Catherine, we bought smoked sausages from Le Fumet des Ardennes (
fumetdesardennes@edpnet.be), followed by some Mousse de Magret Fumée (smoked duck mousse) from
Le Foie Gras Upignac. The last of our purchases was a truly spectacular spinach anad Emmenthal quiche from a local bakery - what a pity I didn't get their name as it was excellent - light and fluffy.
So there you have it, a very brief tour of the Brussels Winter Market. It was a beautiful and tasty day out and I'll raise a glass of gluhwein to doing it all again.
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