My sister Sabine’s job involves frequent trips to Brussels, so we always have at least lunch, or, if she can make it, add a weekend to one of her business trips.

It was time she got to see my new place…

We started Thursday evening with cocktails on Place de Londres, the small but busy square right outside of my apartment.

Triangular in shape, with the huge trees giving some shade, some ten bars and restaurants have occupied the square with their tables and chairs.

After work on a sunny day the square is crawling with people.

We had Mojitos and then took the all-you-can-eat formula at El Turco, a delicious Mediterranean place with a delicious buffet, mostly mezze with an Ottoman touch, as they say. We definitely over-ate.

From there we walked down to Place Flagey, one of my favorite spots in Brussels. It’s a huge square, that, after 8 long years of works, now has an underground parking garage, and houses a market on weekends.

It’s best feature though is the Flagey cultural center, that houses Café Belga, one of the spots in Brussels to have a drink or coffee. the terrace is always crowded, people flock to sit in the sun whenever it shows itself.

The interior is beautifully retro, the barmen are famously cute (but even efficient) and they even have DJs spinning tunes from time to time.

It’s where Brussels has it’s after-work drink or evening cocktail, and it’s not to be missed.

The cultural center, among it a cinema, is famous for it’s artsy movie selection and themed weeks – you can watch all Fassbinder or Hitchcock movies in a moth, if you want, or some weird Icelandic blockbuster they dug out.

It was the closing of their Film Festival, and we sat on the chairs outside, in front of the church, to watch Tokyo Fiancée, a cute movie adapted from Amélie Nothomb’s novel.

With Sabine just back from Japan, and me still full of memories of Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima, we had a perfect start into a long Brussels weekend…