LOW COST TRIPS AROUND BRUSSELS: LES SERRES ROYALES

 There is one tourist attraction in Brussels which only opens to public once a year, for three weeks. It is not exclusive and it is not expensive. Very well-reputed, it attracts big numbers of people every year. Do you wish for a day under palm trees? Or maybe you feel like smelling countless species of colourful flowers? Believe it or not, all this is possible in Brussels. Between 15 April and 8 May 2011 make sure you visit Les Serres Royales or The Royal Greenhouses.

Destination: Les Serres Royales in Laeken.

Transport: underground line 6, get off at Bockstael and walk for about 10 minutes.

Equipment: a camera and a partner for a romantic walk.

Cost: 2,5 euro admission fee.

Brussels has been treating us extremely well lately. Weather-wise. The sunny, warm weather is just the kind of spring I was hoping for. We have thus been exploring the parks and walks of the city, waiting for the rainy days to give us incentive to go to the museums. Last weekend, upon several colleagues’ recommendation, we decided to visit The Royal Greenhouses. In spite of a significant number of people who had apparently come up with the exact same idea, we were not disappointed.

The Greenhouses (yes, in plural) are situated next to the Royal Palace in Laeken and occupy an enormous terrain. The buildings are vast and beautiful, built in the XIX century by Alphonse Balat for no other than king Leopold II, with whom I have already become acquainted at the Museum of Africa, its “Colonisation, Slavery and Brutal Tyrants” part, to be specific. As opposed to colonizing Congo, however, the Greenhouses seem to have been an excellent idea. They were built in glass and iron, and until today house thousands of plants, some of which are said to have been ordered to be brought from Congo by our favourite king.

Having paid the 2,5 euros, you follow a pre-defined path (sadly, there is no possibility of getting off the beaten track), and wait patiently as the people ahead of you take their pictures. You then proceed to take the exact same pictures, while making the people behind you wait. All this takes place in a relaxed and positive atmosphere, with several people offering to take romantic pictures of you and your boyfriend surrounded by pink flowers. Bliss.

The walk is long; you go in and out the greenhouses, and as you go out you can admire the amazing grounds, neatly marked as “off limits”, as they belong to the Royal Family and so only Royal Family are authorized to stroll gracefully, royally and in complete solitude in those grounds. Is it the communist legacy that makes me question monarchy?

This and many other questions of similar importance, such as When’s lunch?, ran through my head as we approached a very strange item on our itinerary: the Japanese tower. Perplexed at first, later we found out that both the tower and the nearby Chinese Pavilion were ordered – surprise! – by Leopold II and were designed by French architects. The Museum of Far East gives them a purpose today. Why they were built in the first place remains a mystery.

Having taken the tour of the Greenhouses and the oriental monuments of French origin, which inspired us to have lunch, we made a final stop in the park opposite the Royal Palace. There too Leopold II left his trace: a huge neo-gothic monument of his progenitor, Leopold I. The latter looks rather morbid but the park is definitely worth a stroll. 

Drawbacks? Maybe the fact you can't just wander around king's grounds. But a lovely day altogether. Hurry up! You're running out of time!