When I write about a place I visit, it is helpful both from a personal perspective and a narrative one to have a single experience that defines a destination. It helps me to tie a place to a sight, smell, or just an emotional feeling. After all, sometimes cities – and even countries – blend together, so having a singular moment that sets one apart makes all the difference, quite literally. Standing in Brussels’ magnificent Grand Place on a chilly October evening, looking at the spectacular golden facades lit up, I know that for me in this city, this is going to be my moment.

I walk slowly around the square, moving between groups of people ogling just as I am, trying to figure out where to look next. Grand Place is hard to capture in a single image, and even a photo of one side of the square doesn’t seem to do it justice. After a few minutes of trying various panoramas, wide angle shots, and zooms, I give up, put my phone in my pocket, and stand. I turn around in place, giving myself time to stare at each portion, at each building, at each rich embellishment. I watch the people, smell the chocolate stores and cafes, listen to the sounds of a bustling European capital and its central plaza. Yes, this will be my moment.

The history of settlement here along the Senne River goes back to the Stone Age, but Brussels as a city of importance really only starts in the year 1000, when the Count of Leuven acquired the area and turned a small town into a commercial center. City walls were built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and while they are no longer standing, their course is clearly visible in a series of ring streets around what is now the historical center. Grand Place sits at the bullseye of this ring.

The square was once the central market for the city, and buildings here are the most important in Brussels. From a magnificent gothic city hall built in the early fifteenth century (it is closed during my visit as Grand Place is being used for university graduation ceremonies) to guild houses for some of the most influential trade organizations in all of Flanders, those now here are mainly original, albeit restored, dating to a 1695 fire that gutted most of what stood along Grand Place at that point.

While the city hall and its 315 foot tower gets the most press, and the most photos, my favorite building stands directly across from it. The King’s House has stood here since the twelfth century, but the current iteration dates only to 1896. Once the building where bread was sold, it became the Duke of Brabant’s administrative center, and was called the Duke’s House, until the Duke became King of Spain, necessitating the name change, which then stuck. Today, it houses the Brussels City Museum, and I return during daylight hours to visit.

The collection is nice, featuring some cool relics from buildings no longer standing. But two highlights stand out. First is the building itself, best evidenced from the top floor grand room, which also features a lovely exhibit on the history of Grand Place and Brussels as a whole. Second is a gallery dedicated to Brussels’ most famous “citizen,” Manneken Pis. This symbol of the city is a statue of a small child urinating, and for centuries, the statue has been dressed up in various costumes. (There is a full time city employee for whom this is his job.) Here at the museum, some of the best costumes are on display, and a searchable database has images of hundreds more! Highlights include samurai, Elvis, and so many more that it is easy to spend a lot of time at the touch screen looking through.

Manneken Pis is just a couple short blocks from Grand Place, and I arrive just as the city staff is finishing the boy’s new outfit, a graduation cap and gown in honor of those doing the real thing back in the square. The statue dates from 1619, with its current alcove from 1770, although the boy one sees today is a replica as the original has been broken and stolen on multiple occasions since its installation. Costumes have been part of the tradition here for centuries, with one given by Louis XV in the seventeenth century still surviving in the city museum.

Of course, every great European city needs a great cathedral. Brussels offers the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, a long name for a lovely monumental stone edifice that is another highlight of the city’s historic center. The building was completed in 1519, though construction began centuries earlier. While it is hard to get a good view of the outside given its place in a fairly small square, the interior is airy, with spectacular columns and lovely stained glass.

Brussels’ center is lovely to walk. Many streets have been pedestrianized, especially right around Grand Place, and the area features some of the most decadent chocolate shops, waffle houses, cafes, brasseries, and other eateries that the city has to offer. I pass by another statue of urination, a ton of beautiful buildings, and a few murals of the Smurfs, a Belgian creation.

Other highlights include the Musee Magritte, the monumental Palais du Justice (which is currently getting a major refurbishment), and the Musical Instrument Museum (currently closed, but its sister in Phoenix is amazing, and you can read about that here).

Back in Grand Place, I close my eyes to let my other senses take over, then open them and walk slowly around again. I do my best to capture this moment, this defining instant in time, knowing that if I remember a single thing from my stay in Brussels, this will be it. A beautiful square in a wonderful city center, and a small sense of inner peace.

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