Tags archives: belgium

 

Bright Brussels

I’ll be honest, the first time I went to Belgium I thought that it looked like a newspaper; grey, red (like the economy pages) and green (like the ads). This made a lot of sense in my mind and it can be explained by the fact that I arrived on a very rainy day after pulling an all nighter. I’ve grown to like it more, but I have to admit that I was surprised when I had some Brussels photos developed and all this brightness came out.

 

brussels
Tulips
Alimentation General

 

 

 

Amazing bookshops around the world: Galerie Bortier (Brussels)

Galerie Bortier
Rue de la Madeleine Ilôt Sacré
Brussels (Belgium)

Galerie Bortier

I was happy to stumble upon Galerie Bortier when I went to Brussels. According to my guide, it’s the only shopping gallery entirely devoted to bookshops in the world. That’s pretty remarkable and fully grants it access to the Amazing Bookshops Around the World series.

Galerie Bortier

 

The gallery itself is beautiful, and inside you can find a few small bookshops, mostly selling old books and bargains, and some shops selling prints of antique maps and things like that.
Galerie Bortier
Galerie Bortier
It’s located in central Brussels, very close to all the tourist attractions, which makes it worth visiting if you are one of those peoplewho have an inexplicable love affair with old paper. Unfortunately, I don’t speak French and their selection of books in English was, well, it just wasn’t there, so I came out with no books but a beautiful original sketch.

Galerie Bortier
DO VISIT IF: You have a taste for 19th century shopping arcade and/or antique prints.
SKIP IT IF: You’re actually looking for something to read.