Brussel is a city of interesting contrasts, sometimes surreal as the paintings of Magritte, sometimes qiet and linear as the Flemish architectures of the merchants who made it rich, sometimes fairytale like the Art Nouveau harmonies of Victor Horta. The heart of this city and a starting point for getting to know it better, is the Grand Place, the large, historic square flanked by the beautiful guild halls with the gothic Hotel de Villa in the center. This town hall is considered one of the most beautiful in Europa. For centuries the Grand-Place has been the focal point of the city`s social and civic life. The joking and irreverent symbol is a child who pees.
The little Manneken Pis, comes to life from a story that actually happend: in the fourteenth century a child named Juliaanske, he was able to save the city from the foreign aggressor urinating on a fuse lit along the defensive walls. Brussels is a cosmopolitan city, capital of beer and chocolate with a great vivacity and a strong fascination linked to its role as crossroad of Europe.