act like a local .be

*Eat and drink a lot. Brusseleirs are called "kieefretters" (chicken eaters) because, according to legend, we preferred eating instead of fighting during the Middle Ages.

*Drink Lambic beer. It gets a unique sour taste from bacteria that only exist in and around Brussels in the valley of the river Zenne. Alright, you don't see it, but this river actually runs under Brussels. We covered it in th 19th century because it was an open sewer. Good bacteria, though.

*Brussels is ugly, and we love it. And if we don't love it, we live with it. So don't be surprised that we built an appartment block next to an Art Noveau jewel, or a pseudo-classical monster in front of the Central Station.

*Don't take pictures on the Grote Markt. The Unesco says it's World Heritage, we say there's too many tourists.

*On Sunday, Brusseleirs go on a trip in their own city, to the markets and exotic neighbourhoods where they forget about the rain. Only tourists hang around in the centre.

*Learn the difference. A real Brussels waffle is square, and a Liégeois is round. You put sugar on top of a Brussels one, and nothing in a Liégeois (the sugar is baked into it). And if you really want to look a tourist, order extra chocolate or strawberry.

*Be as weird as you want. Brussels has always been a temporary home for those who were too strange or too smart fot other cities: Erasmus, Marx, Multatuli, Hugo, Baudelaire and Einstein.



(num folheto publicitário do hostel)