No wonder they make the beers there so strong. This is stop #5 on the trip across Eurasia to the Pacific. Still haven't left the Atlantic but we're about to pick up the pace..
If you're in Europe, you should visit Wales. Not many travel RUclipsrs do so you'll have a unique perspective. It's a bit of a shithole, but it's our shithole
Government has given up cleaning it up. They keep spraying it while they paint even. There are plenty of jobs. But the migrants don't want to learn the language. And those that do speak it so poorly that there are less (still quit a few) jobs that would hire them because they need to be understandable. In the mean time the litter and drop of garbage in the streets to save on the money for garbage bags. The teens destroy public property and spray graffiti everywhere. And prices and tourism go's time, lowering jobs. They harass ppl, are violent and keep blaming a lack of jobs and other nationalities. Not necessarily white, any that's just not there nationality. Result, the cities is a dump and no one wants to live there but the non working migrants. Anyone that lived there has moved. Over 70% of the population is migrant, so i am not just dissing on migrants. They really are the majority. And they are also the problem it's a dumb.
I live in Belgium, 42 yrs old. 1 1/2hr drive from my place to central Brussels. Used to love it in my teens to go skateboarding and shopping ... seen the city become more and more dirty/sketchy/dangerous theoughout the years. You could pay me now to go there, i would tell you to keep your money. Really sad, used to be a thriving, vibrant city.
You made it like this yourself with your immigration policies bringing in Moroccans, turks and the rest of the uncivilised barbarians from the middle east, what did you expect would happen? You only got yourselves to blame. Trulym your sins will find you out, this is only the beginning good sir, it will get much much worse and darker for Brussels and Belgium as a whole.
I went to Brussels in 2016, and i got mugged on my first day there. I lost my keys, wallet, credit cards, ID, passport. I also broke my nose and chipped a tooth and had to go to the hospital, so i'm not too fond of Brussels either, lol.
Went to brussels to see "groundation" in like '09. Almost got robbed twice wandering the streets after the concert. Three diverse individuals cornered my mate and me, shoving their hands in my pockets. I squared up and started yelling only to look back at my friend who was already 50 meters in the opposite direction, running. The city is a sad sight bordering on revolting.
as an arab from the gulf idk why europe accept so many refugees without even thinking twice .. i get that the average age is quit old in europe and u need workers but we in GCC countries needed workers even more .. we just give them job contracts and thats about it no citizenship or anything and i don't understand why would that even be on the table.
WE the people didn't accept all these refugees, it's our corrupt, self indulgent, power hungry, narcissistic politicians that are deciding things over our heads. we can't do anything about it!
@@halko7122 but Woke ideology shall be applied to the ethnic minorities within the country and who are native to the land .. not to some foreigners from other continents.
Because when people ask for proper border controls and controls of immigration they are called "nazis" by mainstream media, so no wonder right-wing parties are getting more votes in elections across those Western countries.
The no citizenship is partially why, I know people(asians) who work in the UAE crazy high salary (I'm in the EU myself and what they earn is insane compared to our wages), but it's not enough for them and want to move to the US instead. I believe they won't get pension so that could be the major issue.
Oh give me a break 😂 "hell on earth" is low crime rate, diversity, universal healthcare, rated one of the happiest countries in Europe, high GDP per capita, good education, LGBTQ+ Rights, minimum 25 days per year of vacation days annually, equity with men and women, and one of the highest life expectancy rates? 😂Get a grip 😂
@@KarsonLowe Well it is just what you see in this if it is good or not, i think you just described "hell on earth" because you belive in lies...or live in the countryside, far away from city's. If you see through them you will see the real world, not the social(ism) picture society keeps feeding you.
@@johannavanklaveren66the Belgiums clearly did that for a reason. They knew what kind of trash they were dealing with. See the RECENT Congo wars for some even uglier history.
Tell your elected officials to stop destabilizing their countries then. The elites in Western countries practice predatory capitalism which wrecks 3rd world countries. The Intel agencies' constant meddling in said nations doesnt help anything
I’m so happy this channel popped up on my algorithm. No nonsense: without fancy drones and music like everyone else, bravery, history lessons and jokes! My new favorite channel!!
Brussel midi is not central station, it's the Southern station, although a big transportation hub, it is located in not the prettiest of neighborhoods, Brussel central is the central station, with a much more pleasant surrounding. Not that I'm a big fan of Brussel, but didnt't feel like you gave it a fair shake :) I understand first impressions are hard to overcome.
Right? When I first arrived in Belgium from Norway, I landed at Gare du midi at 23h00 and was shocked at what I was seeing. I have now lived in the city for quite some time and this video is very misleading. I have lived in London, Paris, Marseille, travelled more times than I can count to Southern Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Madrid and I find it to be a joke calling Brussels the most dangerous city. Not by a stretch. Every city has its shady areas and ours is south station but it's being renovated and the city has gone is going great transformation. We have some of the most beautiful green spaces from Duden to Josephat to cinquantenaire to name but a few. I have come to love Brussels very much although I'm looking to move on soon. I have had the most wonderful time here and the Brussels crowd is one of the most wonderful, loving and welcoming crowd I have met. Bruxelles je t'aime. Brussel ik hou van jou❤❤❤❤❤ We love eachother in Brussels.
I fully agree with you. I have the impression the author experienced some kind of frustrations in a near past in Brussels and wants to unload it by insisting to show the same place for long minutes. Why not show Charleroi for example?
My daughter travelled Europe on her own. She said Brussels was the most terrifying place for a lone woman to walk. Migrants were the problem. Not many seen on this video. Wonder why?
The city center is fine but when you find yourself in the wrong part of town after dark, it gets scary really fast. I arrived at a bus station in the North of Brussels and it was full of drug addicts and aggressive drunks. Got a taxi and out of there as fast as I could.
im from belgium we have so many nice towns and places but brussels is just turned into a shithole with crime and garbage everywhere they realy need to do something drastic specialy with the crime
We visited Brussels last January and enjoyed it. We stayed in a nice hotel in a nice area and enjoyed our visit. There were definitely two different sides to the city. Then we headed via train to Amsterdam.
Brussels was a great up until about 20 years ago........but now an Islamic rat hole, London, Paris, Berlin & Amsterdam going the same way..........terrifying & so so sad.........BLAME THE POLITICIANS.
Sabbatical is right there were a lot of wars across Europe, that killed millions, but that is dwarfed by wars that happened in India and China. Indian scholars estimate 80 million died in Indian wars from the Mughal invasion, over a couple of centuries, and theres still fighting today between the 2 biggest religious groups., Most people are totally unaware of Chinese civil wars that killed over 75% of the whole Chinese population. Then you had Stalin killing 20 million in the name of communism in Russia, around 40 million died under Chinese communists, The period from 1945 until today is still the most peaceful in recorded history. Even with trouble in the Middle East, several Sunni vs Shia wars, Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, and a worldwide unofficial jihad going on, many wars across Africa, and parts of Asia, the world is still more peaceful today than ever but there are bad signs the world is headed for major wars again. Lets hope not.
Two years ago, I stayed in Belgium for a month on business. Lived in the village and really met great people. The Belgians are the best. But as soon as we went to the town of Verviers, it was scary. More like a ghetto than a city. Two acquaintances ended up with a stolen car, and one friend had his bag stolen. Sad..
That's crazy cause you go there for a month and that happens. While I go there 20x per year, for 20 years and nothing happened ever? And not to my network either? Either you are litteraly having a curse on you or your friends made stupid mistakes.
@@teach450 I just wrote my experience. Don't assume if it's a curse or a mistake, but rather read my comment again. The fact that you go to Belgium 20 times a year means absolutely nothing to me and it won't change the fact that we were robbed and two of our cars were stolen.
@@Themonikamo I am Belgian, I don't go 20 times to Belgium. Your story is really odd, I think your experiences aren't what the reality is. Just bad luck, bad timing. Don't get me wrong it happens
Not worse than London, Paris or Marseille for all that. Sure insecurity and population replacement have become problematic there, benefits of multiculturalism being mostly utopian imo, in the way they’re sold to us. However Brussels has a lot of nice and peaceful neighbourhoods, in my experience it’s especially some downtown areas around the city centre which are to avoid at some hours, as well as some municipalities of Brussels region which can be dangerous from time to time but some other municipalities are very chill and safe, whatever the hour of the day from what I’ve seen. I think Paris and neighbouring districts of Parisian region such as 93 and 94 for instance are overall way more unsafe than Brussels btw
When I was shopping in Liege 20 years ago, a police officer was having an argument on the street with some man. A group of people gathered around. There were other officers nearby. The police officer put his walkie-talkie down on the ground and he and the man went down a side street to have a fist fight. The crowd followed to watch. A young man then walked past me and grabbed the walkie-talkie and strolled off. I went over to the other officers and informed them. They chased after the young man to retrieve the walkie-talkie and arrested him. The fist fight was more verbal than physical and the crowd started to leave. I just remember thinking what a strange city Liege was and what a strange country altogether. So I went into a department store nearby and continued shopping.
PS I love Luik/Liege/Luttich though it has cleaned up its act too much since the old days. It was a good laugh to visit there near the Cathedral and the Quai 20 or 30 years back.
yep, Liege and Charleroi are way worse than Brussels. At least in Brussels you can find some nice places if you stay in the city center. Liège and Charleroi are like molenbeek extended to an entire city. The crackhead concentration in Liège is crazy.
I was in Brussels in 2010, chilling and drinking beer in a park. There were two muslim guys with British accents, huge beards and those long pakistani pyjama shirt looking things, talking in English about weapons and hand-to-hand combat and self defense. I went to drink elsewhere as it was a little weird. When I left the park, this squad of cops with body arnour and dogs swarmed in to the park ...seemed like something was going down. Always wondered if those two were implicated or not.
Could never happen over here in Trumpistan. Drinking in a park will get you arrested. Because Jesus. Better to piss on a park bench like our homeless do.
Belgium is known in Europe for being the place to get unregistered weapons. That guys meeting the description you gave were talking about that in Brussels is concerning. You have to question why they were there in the first place. And admittedly that was 14 years ago, but how many guys like that have been there since then, and how many are going there today.
Im from Belgium and gangs in Brussels are either north-african (moroccan or algerian) or black african (mostly congolese or west-african). By the sound of their attire those 2 dudes are Pakistani. You will rarely see Pakistani criminals over there. Mostly they work nightshops. Im pretty sure those 2 dudes were just tourists from the UK.
I’m from Brooklyn,NY born and raised and just visited Brussels earlier this year for about 8 hours or so then jumped back on the EuroStar high speed train to Paris where I was vacationing at. Honestly I had a great time there during my short visit. I got to see the pissing mannequin and the Atomium. I like their subway system because they offer a day pass unlike Paris and you just tap and go. I didn’t find it dangerous at all of course being I was raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn during the rough 90s decade. Also felt more safe there than in some housing projects I hung out with my family where they lived in Puerto Rico. It’s a nice country and I would definitely visit again if I had the time and money 💰 I really would like to visit Ghent and Bruges and Antwerp.
Great video!! I've not been to Brussels but ive heard its worth avoiding on the other hand I've been to Bruges and Ypres very nice i would like to go back. My dear old grandfather was at the battle of Ypres he spent 3 years on the western front his experiences there made quite an impression on him, and me, God bless him and all those soldiers.
I live 15min from Brussels and I can say youre really stretching it. Its really not that bad. You should just know where not to go and where to go cuz its actually a nice place
I lived in Brussels for 11 years around 30 years ago - the area around Gare du Midi was always shitty. He’s going to the “Grand PALACE”??? How about “Grand’ Place”…. Lots of lovely areas, especially the southern districts. It’s like this guy intentionally went to the ugliest parts. Equivalent to walking around the projects in New York City and ignoring Central Park. I enjoyed living in Brussels.
Brussels is certainly one of the scetchier areas in Belgium. There are definitely others to avoid even more like the old wallonian industrial cities like Charleroi where the situation is arguably worse. But there are defenitively beautiful cities in Belgium too like Leuven, Ghent, Tournai, Bruges, Dinant, ... The thing to wrap your head around as a tourist is that when you want to go visit Belgium, the capital isn't really your number one priority, except maybe for some monuments like the main square, royal palace or the musea around. Oh and when you visited Ypres, what you saw in the main square isn't a tourist trap but actually part of an tradition called "kermis" which is an annual social event which finds its roots in the 'year-fares' where towns would organize a feast every year where traders would come in, people would gather and buy items that would otherwise not be available, celebrate and play games. The games you saw, like shooting galleries, kids rides, lotteries, duck fishing, etc, are the present day continuation of this tradition that you can find anually in a lot of towns and villages, even small ones. They only run for a short period of time then move to another town.
@@leesmusic1 and they cope by saying they invented fries when historical records do show they were invented as street food in Paris in the early 19th century
@@josefpoukine I’m sorry but it’s just lame isn’t it? It’s like having mashed potatoes with butter as your national dish, it’s so lacking in invention that its kind of embarrassing
Buddy, calling the Grand Place, Grand Palace as you did, immediately disqualifies you from saying anything, bad or good, about Brussels! How hard can it, even for an American, to realize that Grand Place means Big Square? And if you're in the town's Big Square, what could that tall building be? The Town Hall, maybe? That's a good shot, methinks!
I was in Charleroi once, at the train station, and I needed to pee. I decided to just take a piss in the station elevator. Normally I would never dare to do just a thing, but the environment sucked so much that it just seemed fitting and perfectly okay.
There are very pretty parts in Marseille, the city gets a bad reputation for a few neighbourhoods quite far from the city centre. Exactly like in Paris or other large cities, you should not go in neighbourhoods that are far from everything, especially social housing estates, in the far north or north east
13:00 the first Belgian king (1831) , was actually of German descent and did not speak any Dutch at all. The Belgian Royal family are all native french speakers. It is also not true that he forced the city to become french speaking. The reality is that Belgian nobility/clergy and bourgeoisie were all french-speakers, due to French being the language of higher education, as well as all official positions troughout the 18th century. So the native Dutch-speaking bourgeoisie, who had recently risen up to become richer and of higher social status, all had learnt French at this point to integrate themselves into high society. What followed, was the passing down of French as second language, or even as the first language which led to the French assimilation of Brussels.
Accurate rectification. Also, Dutch is a modern import. It even was the only official language of Belgium in the short period when the territory was under Dutch rule (1815-1830) after the Napoleon wars and before Independence. But it never made it to the population up until it was adopted as the second official language decades later.
@@Toto8opus I can't entirely agree, as the majority of the population in Brabant spoke their local (dutch) dialects well before the 18th century. They were followed by a slightly smaller group in the south, who spoke various Walloon (French) dialects. Which is mostly portrayed in the current division of the provinces. The Dutch king's attempt to make Dutch the only official language, was never really that successful, as the language of politics in the southern Netherlands had been French for over a century at that point. What really happened, is that during this period of 1815-1830, the high officials and politicians kept using French as their sole language in their administration, even at the States General of the Netherlands. The rising tensions caused by the policies of King William I ultimately led to the Belgian revolution.
half right, brussels remained a majority dutch speaking city until it was forced to change, bureaucrats were forced to speak fluent french even postmen had to be fluent in french, dutch was disregarded and in fact the civil code was only officially translated to dutch in 1960. poor flemings were forced out and francophones moved in alongside the french educated elite. eventually the city was left devoid of a soul, you can't kill the domminant language and then think you'l retain social cohesion and harmony, francification destroyed brussels as much as dutchification would destroy any succesfull french city
Leopold I, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, took the constitutional oath on 21 July 1831 to become the first King of the Belgians. That is the family Saxe (as in saxon) Coburg and Gotha/ Windsor
@@bleromafia We disagree only on this that "Brabants" dialects would have been "Dutch" and "Walloon" dialects would have been "French". It's true that Brabants dialects are part of the germanic linguistic group and Walloons are part of the latin one to keep it simple. But they are both respectively very different from Dutch and French. So, nobody spoke Dutch in the territories that fell under Dutch rule at that time, whence much resistance, among other things, from the Flemish bourgeoisie who used mostly French due the influence coming from France and the Enlightenment. The province division in Belgium is a legacy from the French occupation and is no direct reflection of the cultural divides, just like the departments in France for the same reasons. The French revolutionaries tries indeed to deter any sense of regionalism when they created them.
As a belgian that is born in brussel, I just can confirm that I left the city, my dad moved to another country. Its like Brussel is rotting from the inside and lot of cities in Belgium are following that track, no joke
@@MR-mw4njye Belgium is rich. But Brussels has nothing to do with Belgium anymore. It's infested with economic migrants, petty criminals, drug addicts.. I think more than 50 pct of the city is immigrant. So there you have it.. Go to Gent, Brugge, Kortrijk, Leuven, Hasselt, Tongeren there you'll find true Flemish/Belgian culture(Antwerpen also I would say but this place, together with Rotterdam, is the drug capital of Europe, and lots and lots of islamists).
I live in Belgium, the Flamish part, and Brussels is a city by itself. Imigrants around the world keep coming here and they only can check if they legal or not if they arrive in Brussels, but the justice system makes hard to send illegals out of Belgium, so that´s why you have so much homeless on the streets, you couldn´t imagine how many immigrants do get help, but if you are legal, you get more help money wise by the system then people who worked 50 years in Belgium, the system is broken, young people can´t affort buying a house without big help of parents, but legal immigrants get cheap housing, and so on. Looks like it´s in all west europe countries, but it also looks everything is now changing because they are starting to shut borders in Germany, so probably the other west europe countries will follow
@@whathappenedtofreethinking6902 I think some places in the US like Portland and San Francisco are much further along the poop chute than even Brussels is. The Progressives in the US point to Europe and say why can't we be more socialist like the Europeans and our leftists jump on every idiotic idea that comes out of the American progressives. They are importing US race theory and gender nonsense. And a lot of Europeans are very misinformed about US affairs. Recently I expressed happiness that Trump was elected at a family event and nobody understood how I could be in favour of that. Instead of the european filtered news I showed them the outright lies that CNN, MSNBC etc. had written and broadcast about Trump, I showed the Democrats arguing for third trimester abortions, showed larger clips putting the Liz Cheney rifle quote in context, and the fine people hoax. At the end they were basically all nodding "yes, yes, I see how he got elected".
Do you have proof that legal immigrants 'get' cheap housing ? Btw have you ever been in big German cities ? There are a lot more homeless people sleeping everywhere, even in parks or appartment blocks. I even saw a half naked old guy shooting himself with heroin in a front garden of what was supposed to be the fancy part of the cute city of Bremen .
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Brussels is known as a crime-infested city all over europe though it is the bureaucratic centre of the continent.
belgium has same problem as the other EU states , mass obligated immigration by European commission, they are fed and sheltered by our tax payers money,while our own belgian people who are in trouble and live on the streets get nothing. the illegal ones live of crime and theft. price of everything(rent/groceries/energy ext) went op x3 in 10 years because of that. Our police force is outnumbered under trained and underfunded to deal with all the criminality, and all our prisons are overflowing(we rent prison space in the Netherlands rofl). Belgium need a new revolution and cleanup for sure, as the rest of Europe.
But you can't sustain your population without immigrants. You cannot get enough workers to pay into your social security. You think everything is free? Come on open your eyes
but in zwitserland people learn these languages on school while in belgium the french part refuses to learn dutch. They also refuse to speak dutch do you see why its divided? zwitserland also has spefici laws about languages in belgium its all over the place
I'm Belgian. Brussels is like that place we all have in our house, the place you try to keep shiny and sterile, where you want to be left alone, where you pass time on your smartphone or reading the newspaper, and you leave as soon as you dropped your package. 😉😁
Important note ! Belgium was founded because we fought a war of independence against the dutch king (1830). What is now the netherlands, was the protestant north and what is now Belgium, was the catholic south, there's a whole history to it but, it partly the reason to it. Because britain sided us against the dutch, we won and Belgium was founded.
You're wrong: it weren't UK but France. On 2 August 1831 the Dutch army invaded Belgium and defeated Belgian forces in several battles. On 4 August the Dutch took control of Antwerp and moved deeper into Belgium. The Belgian army was defeated in the battle of Hasselt. On 8 August Leopold called for support from the French. As a result French Marshal Étienne Maurice Gérard crossed the border with 70,000 French troops under his command on 9 August. The battle of Leuven began on 12 August. In order to avoid war with the approaching French the Dutch agreed an armistice with Belgium and withdrew. The Dutch continued to hold the Antwerp Citadel and occasionally bombarded the city from it. French Marshal Gérard returned to Belgium in November 1832 with the Armée du Nord and besieged the citadel taking it on 23 December 1832. Without the French, Belgians would be Dutch today.
@@verttijineu2776We always learned that the dutch fled out of what became Belgium out of fear. The Belgians (having no army at that time) were just too strong for the dutch army. It al started with a theatric play ‘The mute from Portici’ wich triggered the people to have some fun by chasing the scary dutch soldiers.🧐
Nope. There were the Austrian Netherlands, simply speaking, from 1556 till 1794. Then it became French, then Dutch in 1815, then independent in 1831. No Austria around to blame for anything, sorry.
Im belgian living jn Brussels for 38 years. You just went in the worst neighborhood in brussels, outside this area there are great places and its not boring if you know where to go.
I am living just outside Brussels but working already many years in Brussels and coming often to Brussels during the weekends. You went indeed to the worst neighourhood in Brussels coming out of the Gare du Midi. And you missed some nice places like the Cinquantenaire, the museums and the atomium. Some places are I admit very dirty but the the eastern part of the city is very nice. And about the Grand-Place, there are very few places in Europe that have similar squares.
i lived in Brussels from 1984-1999 - i loved Brussels. Gare du Midi was beginning to be a dangerous area during that time. The immigration issue has eroded Brussels and the nation. The Gran Place is still an amazing experience. The Palace of Justice has been under construction since, at the least, the 1980s
I visited Brussels a few years ago, I saw 3 young Arab looking men kill a bird and throw it in one of the waterways. They found it hilarious. I've also never been accosted to buy cocaine more anywhere else in the world, and I live in Philly.
no belgians in brussels. it used to be a flemish city, now it's 90% french and the majority of those third world foreigners. Most people i know actively avoid brussels.
Parisian here, grew up on the outskirts so I 've had my share of fucked up situations and places. Never been to Bruxelles but only Antwerp, which was pretty cool, except the main station area, as in the vide here. Some things are the same everywhere I guess. The French today hav an extra info always on the corner of their minds: most of the fuckers who slaughtered people at the Bataclan and at the Petit Cambodge, mong others, came from Molenbek, whatever the proper speling is. A Brussels hood.
@@Mikamichae Thats what happens when you go to parts of the world and colonise them,strip them of resources and extract what you want and treat them like slaves !!! Did you not listen to him talk about King Leopold who ruled Congo as his own fiefdom and slaughtered millions of Congolese and chopped off peoples hands and tied them to trees.They were there for the rubber plantations and probably a sizable chick of Belgiums wealth was built on the backs of Africans...the chocolate as well as if I am right hcocolate doesn't grow in Belgium !!!! Also maybe check your iphone and other tec see how your consumer goods are still fuelled by exploiting coltan mines and fuelling wars still today in Congo before you talk 3rd world and exploitation !!! Look at the shit going on in your name and by the companies you buy from and how your governments allow it !!!! before you talk about "excessive amounts"
I always get the same feeling in Brussels as you, but when I go to Antwerp I fall in love every time. If I go to a city other than mine (The Hague, Holland) for a nice day, it is Antwerp. What nice people there. .I love them
Anvers est magnifique ma ville de naissance. Et la ville des mafia et Bruxelles la ville où je vis , la ville des gangs. A Bruxelles il n'y a pas de loi pour ainsi dire et à Anvers il faut respecter la loi .
@@axeldegives3817 Oui,je pense que tu as raison . Mais tu me parles la plus belle langue du monde. C'est aussi quelquechose,et on trouve des gens sympas partout dans le monde ,y compris à Bruxeless.
I've watched about four of your episodes now and considering that l normally find it difficult to sit still for that long, I'm finding your presentations very entertaining. Well done.
WW! was a horrific torturous war. My Great Grandmother fled from Lithuania with 2 young children to Ellis Island. She was part of a Lthuanian-Swedish resettlement in NY. She remarried a wealthy Forest Park Ill. lumber Co. She becamse a affluent Chicago Womens Right to Vote suffrage movement Coordinator. Thank you for teaching, sharing all your history, and knowlege. it helps me understand our world.
A lot of European city councils leave public lawn areas grow wild in the summer to help bees and insects, plus it saves money on weed killers and having to pay people to mow them.
This is true! My american friend complained the lawns were not mowed in the parks (in Canada). It's for insects and flowers, not because of lack of money
I think that's also related to late COP on biodiversity. Our governments try to release green area to local life! In Brussels, you can walk close to foxes in some of the garden parks he visited (e.g. just behind the EU parlement)!
I visited Belgium for summer vacation from Abu Dhabi back in 2014. As an American, I’ve seen much worse in some of our inner cities (I grew up 15 minutes outside Baltimore). I’ve travelled throughout Europe and Asia, and lived in Abu Dhabi for nearly 20 years. Ironically, my wife and I enjoyed Belgium, including Brussels, so much we considered moving there.
Taking one for the team, Tommy! You're a real trooper for doing this video. I've been curious about Bruxelles for years as a musician because to its jazz scene, but I'm also aware of its seedier reputation in the very areas and neighborhoods you show us in the video. I think I might just sit this one out. Caveat emptor!
The city center is cra.ppy, dirty, not safe these days. Drug Trafficking is on the rise, loads of homeless migrants. And if you read the news, you know that Hungary is bringing in some more by bus. Restaurants and commerces are shutting down and leaving due to the blatant lack of security. Women get harassed by frustrated young men with values alien to liberal sexuality. And the overall impression is just one of very ugly filthy mess. The 18 other municipalities surrounding the center are not that bad though and are even thriving in comparison.
I was here last week! It was scary as hell at the north station, but I have survived :) Thank you for the indepth history lesson! Although you have missed very important things about Belgium. It is definitely worth to visit for a week or more. The uncut grass is not left because of the laziness but because of the bees and view when it flowers. They leave the grass the same way in Switzerland, and they are very tidy nation! They are also very easy going, but still like to preserve things. There are whole buildings converted to museums with Art noveau style and are being constantly preserved and tourists are actually allowed to walk inside! They are also very unamericanized nation, which I really love about. Also, would you walk in New York at outskirt at night, probably not, so in a way these cities are not that much different. But there is a huge contradiction that I have felt, in a way they are very conservative nation (at least dutch part), but there are rainbow and multi gender flags everywhere. Maybe the government is artificially pushing this to people. Also I have heard government is trying to discourage people from drinking BEER! In Belgium where there are so many microbreweries. Imagine that. That is why a lot of youngsters are not drinking it. But instead they use much worse things to get high.
Did Brussels last year. First thing I saw when I got off the train was a fight breaking out. After that I tried to get a Taxi into town and the taxi drivers started fighting, was not confident in the place at all. But after all that, I loved the place. Had a great time.
@@fran1514 Funny thing is, most of the main railway stations in the UK are nowhere near this dangerous. I bet people will tell me I'm wrong though, which shows the level of cope among both Americans and continental Europeans.
First day I arrived in Brussels, my wife and I were walking to the city center next to a large park. Some guy was throwing fire crackers into the traffic, scaring the Hell out of all of the tourists walking down the street and confusing the drivers who couldn't figure out where the bangs were coming from. The city center was so packed with people that it was hard to move around. Bruges, Dinant, Bastogne, all nice, but Brussels is a shithole.
@@WCC-ps8jtBecause EU floods their countries with people who don’t assimilate, want handouts. Also these “migrants” whatever TF you want to call them are the worst of the worst from these other countries that come in to the EU. They aren’t getting schooling educated or skilled craftsman that’s for sure lmao
I worked in literally every city in Belgium but Brussels was definitely the worst. Go to Molenbeek or Schaarbeek those areas are something else xD. The Flaams City´s were a lot cleaner and better.
I was there a few times. In general the city not near the station is really good. But had a terrible experience with the police. I was waiting near the police station for my coach back to London because the rain was pouring down the sky. I have mobility issues so I use walking stick. But after like 1 hour of waiting there (I had some 2 more hours left) there were 3 vans and 12 cops around me, very aggressive. And they demanded that I have to leave. They knew I am a tourist but they didn't care. They were very aggressive and were just laughing while I was trying to tell them that's raining and I am disabled. When I showed them my walking stick they nearly beat me up with their batons. i had to go with my lugggage and wait in the rain at the coach stop. When I was leaving those bas...rds were just laughing at me .Terrible experience.
I just want to mention that Brussels isn't the "capital of Europe", it's just where EU parliament is (although there's another one in Strasbourg in France now) and is the historical center of the EU. The EU is just an economic organization, it's not a country. Europe is just a continent that has many countries, some of them are part of the EU, some are not, and there is a Schengen space also which is basically a trade zone where people are freely to move between frontiers. Some countries were part of the EU but not of the Schengen space, that was the case of the UK for example. But we each have our own countries. I'm from France and I'm glad that our country is part of the EU and I hope it'll stay that way. Many people here like to spit on the EU but that's only because they don't know what the EU brings to them, a certain economic stability and a guarantee to travel freely across all of the EU countries among many other things. 🙏
The EU isn’t just an “economic organization” lmfao. It’s a full blown political Union and basically is an unofficial confederation and it even resembles a federation in some aspects.
@xStrychninexxx I know that it is also a political organization but not in the sense that they have an agenda, officially they remain neutral. So no, it doesn't work the same way as a federation , sorry, that's what you Americans don't understand about the EU... We are still our own countries even within the EU and we have full political "freedom". The only things that can be "forced" on us are indeed economic policies or environmental ones.
Awesome video, very interesting and I did not know that about French Fries that they were invented by the Belgian’s, so now I’ll refer to them as Belgium Fries. I’m from the land down under by the way.
Went to Brussels by Eurostar in Sept, it was safe as houses! Great base to use the train network for Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges as well. As a man in my mid 60's I didn't feel the least uncomfortable walking back to my hotel late at night.
Belgian here: it really depends on the neighbourhood. Gare du midi, Gare du nord, Molenbeek, etc are neighborhoods with a really bad reputation. But there's plenty of pretty neighborhoods too.
"In Flanders fields, the poppies blow; Between the crosses, row on row; That mark our place, and the sky; The larks, still bravely singing, fly; Scarce heard amid the guns below." The first half of the video, I did not care for. The second part was pure gold. Thank you.
My Great Uncle is named on the Menin Gate YPRES A.R.Richardson English 🏴 Blessings dear Uncle xx Fought & survived the Battle of Loos ❤ died fighting at Lebrique.
I live in Brugge, West-Flanders. Every time I see a video about Belgium I’m proud that our tiny country is getting recognized but also disappointed by how dirty and run over the cities are. I would’ve recommended you to visit Brugge. In my own opinion the most pretty city, everything is in walking distance and there are multiple museums and guided tours that will explain the history of the city. I at first thought it was a tourist attraction but they actually are really interesting to watch/do.
It's possible that the grass was left over grown on purpose to encourage wild flowers, bees and other vital pollinators. This is done in the UK. It also reduces the costs to the local council not having to continualy maintain it.
You can't be serious.....they blew the budget for maintenance on asylum seekers (virtue signaling with public money) and giving themselves an above inflation pay rise. They also wrecked the private economy (source of taxation) with their idiotic lockdown policies.
In my city also, with a left municipal governement, They want diversity in nature, so let grass growing, in some parts of the city, so insects and so on can live there.
This is a very biased view. I've worked in Brussels for over 30 years and lived there for a few years, and have never been attacked or robbed. It is true that you better avoid some areas at night, but unfortunately that is the case (or much worse) in many other cities as well. And yes, you can have a nice drink or eat something at midnight in totally safe conditions.
That's weird I'm belgian, not from Brussels, but I always loved the city, it has lots of green spaces and you obviously don't know the place, there's lots of good things too
I love all your videos, I'm so impressed that you learn the language of some of your destinations as well as you do. I watched a lot of travel videos and not many people (that are funny) even try.😆😆😆😆😆👏👏👏👏👏👏
Flemish speaking Belgian here 🖐 living near Ghent, working in Brussels. Although there's also very beautiful spots in our capital, you've nailed some painful truths about our present and history. I always say to people who want to visit my country: don't just go to Brussels and pretend you've seen Belgium, but don't skip it either. If you'd gone to Charleroi, you'd have seen apocalyptic scenes of abandoned industrial facilities from the above-ground rollercoaster-like metro train, being part of a "failed" project of building a full metro network in the neighborhood. Does that mean that I dislike Charleroi? No, I actually kind of appreciate its steampunk vibes, and it's beautiful for photography purposes, the same goes for Liege. Do I want to live there? No, but I still visit it from time to time, and I'd advise travelers to choose a few cities on the other end of the spectrum, in contrast to Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent. It shows a more complete picture. I love traveling to the outskirts and extreme locations across the world as well. When people ask me if I'm not afraid walking in dodgy areas at night, I say that I'm from Belgium and that I work in Brussels. Now I can refer them to your video. Still, I'm a proud Belgian and I believe Brussels is diverse, has lots to offer, and will get better over time.
@@tchek1980 Actually, if they'd use the profit to help the people living there, and offer them a job in the theme park, I'd be happy to visit. They do offer some kind of tours though, but I've got no idea what they offer and if they're legit. Buy hey, steampunk all the way!
'Proud Belgian' 😂. Stop pretending bro. We can absolutely be proud of some parts of our country, but definitely not of our state as a whole. Hell, nobody even really feels themselves to be Belgian.
It seems that this is staged as a bad publicity for Brussels. Every big city in any country van be dangerous. I lived and worked in Guayaquil Ecuador. That is dangerous, was nearly killed there 3 times. Worked for many years in Brussels never had a problem there. I agree at thé Zuid-Station in Brussels you have a lot of arab thee houses, and the guys on the terrasses are really unrespectfull to women, which was documented on television, but it is not the hell hole Trump once described it. So please show some respect to thé Belgium people
@@anthonymullen6300 you want an honest answer? Port cities are always rough to begin with. Guys out at sea for long periods of time come back to the city for a short time and go crazy with every vice you can imagine. Then, later on, you add immigration to it. After that, you add in a lot of illegal immigration. So you've got ladies of the evening, illegal substances, and tons of unskilled people that just arrived and can't find work. Perfect recipe for a slum soup.
I just returned from my second trip to Brussels. It's way underrated and gets shit on a lot. It has more to offer than people realize. The train station you were at is sketchy, no doubt.
Brussels is the kind of city where people cling to that 10% that’s halfway decent, pretending the rest doesn’t exist. It’s almost admirable how some can overlook the obvious and convince themselves it’s charming, but hey, everyone has their coping mechanisms.
Brussels is very pretty , but they don't take good care of it. I think it's because it does'nt "belong" to anyone, noone actualy cares about it unlike Paris where if you try to touch one stone the inhabitant throw a law suit at you. My sister lives in Brussels first day in her appartment I look through the window and see a guy holding a gun in the street... I go to hide and keep the kids in the back of the appartment, my sister looks at me with blank eyes "why are you doing such a fuss?"
More than 10% is halfway decent, some parts are gorgeous. It's got it's ugly sides to it like pretty much every other capital city in Europe or the US. You just gotta know your way around it. A few months ago I visited Paris again after probably 12 years and there are definitely a lot of desolate, poor and ugly sides to it as well. You'll simply find that everywhere.
@@backintimealwyn5736hasn't majority of the medieval and ancient architecture in Paris been destroyed there isn't much left to touch 😂. Bastion gone le temple keep gone la Louvre castle gone and few others etc. shame because they were stunning from what I could see from old sketches
This is kinda true but the 10% is nonsense. It is more like 50%. Brussels is pretty rich and there are many good neighbourhoods.The city for people living there is more than decent, it is really good. Besides, real estate prices are still pretty low compared to the average income so you dont need to have a top job to live in a good neighbourhood. I now live in France, income is at least 20% lower, rent is higher and insecurity is a lot worse
To be fair, Gare Midi will be renovated soon-ish. I sure hope it's faster than the renovation of the Palais de Justice 😂 Edit: But Brussels has a lot more to offer - recently, we also had some gang related shootings all over the city. And you guessed it, those guys were imported 😉
Not only was the area around Leopold overgrown, there was a deliberate strip of pristine grass edging the planters just to show that it is deliberate, love it
No wonder they make the beers there so strong.
This is stop #5 on the trip across Eurasia to the Pacific. Still haven't left the Atlantic but we're about to pick up the pace..
I pray you visit Oceania one day 🙏 Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu would make great videos
If you're in Europe, you should visit Wales. Not many travel RUclipsrs do so you'll have a unique perspective. It's a bit of a shithole, but it's our shithole
Muscles from Brussels
Government has given up cleaning it up. They keep spraying it while they paint even.
There are plenty of jobs. But the migrants don't want to learn the language. And those that do speak it so poorly that there are less (still quit a few) jobs that would hire them because they need to be understandable.
In the mean time the litter and drop of garbage in the streets to save on the money for garbage bags. The teens destroy public property and spray graffiti everywhere. And prices and tourism go's time, lowering jobs. They harass ppl, are violent and keep blaming a lack of jobs and other nationalities. Not necessarily white, any that's just not there nationality.
Result, the cities is a dump and no one wants to live there but the non working migrants. Anyone that lived there has moved. Over 70% of the population is migrant, so i am not just dissing on migrants. They really are the majority. And they are also the problem it's a dumb.
Tommy i am from belgium!? You want a free tourguide?! How long you staying man!? I can drive you around and show you our history!???
I live in Belgium, 42 yrs old. 1 1/2hr drive from my place to central Brussels.
Used to love it in my teens to go skateboarding and shopping ... seen the city become more and more dirty/sketchy/dangerous theoughout the years.
You could pay me now to go there, i would tell you to keep your money.
Really sad, used to be a thriving, vibrant city.
What's changed huh?
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 Immigrants
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217Muslims
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 savages came to live there, I guess
You made it like this yourself with your immigration policies bringing in Moroccans, turks and the rest of the uncivilised barbarians from the middle east, what did you expect would happen? You only got yourselves to blame. Trulym your sins will find you out, this is only the beginning good sir, it will get much much worse and darker for Brussels and Belgium as a whole.
I went to Brussels in 2016, and i got mugged on my first day there. I lost my keys, wallet, credit cards, ID, passport. I also broke my nose and chipped a tooth and had to go to the hospital, so i'm not too fond of Brussels either, lol.
Bloody hell that's so sad.
Part and parcel. Our greatest strength. Glad you're okay.
Worst vacation ever. Glad ur good bro
Went to brussels to see "groundation" in like '09. Almost got robbed twice wandering the streets after the concert. Three diverse individuals cornered my mate and me, shoving their hands in my pockets. I squared up and started yelling only to look back at my friend who was already 50 meters in the opposite direction, running.
The city is a sad sight bordering on revolting.
@@PEPPERS777"diverse individuals" 😂
as an arab from the gulf idk why europe accept so many refugees without even thinking twice .. i get that the average age is quit old in europe and u need workers but we in GCC countries needed workers even more .. we just give them job contracts and thats about it no citizenship or anything and i don't understand why would that even be on the table.
WE the people didn't accept all these refugees, it's our corrupt, self indulgent, power hungry, narcissistic politicians that are deciding things over our heads. we can't do anything about it!
you don't understand? woke ideology is the answer.
@@halko7122 but Woke ideology shall be applied to the ethnic minorities within the country and who are native to the land .. not to some foreigners from other continents.
Because when people ask for proper border controls and controls of immigration they are called "nazis" by mainstream media, so no wonder right-wing parties are getting more votes in elections across those Western countries.
The no citizenship is partially why, I know people(asians) who work in the UAE crazy high salary (I'm in the EU myself and what they earn is insane compared to our wages), but it's not enough for them and want to move to the US instead.
I believe they won't get pension so that could be the major issue.
I live in Sweden, the country that used to be characterized as 'paradise on earth'.
Now it is more like 'hell on earth'. Can anyone guess why??
Is it bc of climate change???? -_-
Mass emigration?
Oh give me a break 😂 "hell on earth" is low crime rate, diversity, universal healthcare, rated one of the happiest countries in Europe, high GDP per capita, good education, LGBTQ+ Rights, minimum 25 days per year of vacation days annually, equity with men and women, and one of the highest life expectancy rates? 😂Get a grip 😂
@@KarsonLowe Well it is just what you see in this if it is good or not, i think you just described "hell on earth" because you belive in lies...or live in the countryside, far away from city's.
If you see through them you will see the real world, not the social(ism) picture society keeps feeding you.
@@ebre3080 😂😂😂
Brussels is the pioneer pilot city in Europe for countless number of new age immigrants.
The results of this pilot are in front of you.
As in kamakaze pilot....?
It's not Kinshasa. That's where Belgians chopped off Africans' arms. See King Leopold for some ugly history.
A city where people are lookin' for revenge as justification makes it a DWPA (double whammy place to avoid)
@@johannavanklaveren66the Belgiums clearly did that for a reason. They knew what kind of trash they were dealing with. See the RECENT Congo wars for some even uglier history.
Tell your elected officials to stop destabilizing their countries then. The elites in Western countries practice predatory capitalism which wrecks 3rd world countries. The Intel agencies' constant meddling in said nations doesnt help anything
I’m so happy this channel popped up on my algorithm. No nonsense: without fancy drones and music like everyone else, bravery, history lessons and jokes! My new favorite channel!!
Yes it's great no music.
You've gotten better and better at making video Tommy, keep up the great work, always a treat to see educational travelling videos!
Brussel midi is not central station, it's the Southern station, although a big transportation hub, it is located in not the prettiest of neighborhoods, Brussel central is the central station, with a much more pleasant surrounding. Not that I'm a big fan of Brussel, but didnt't feel like you gave it a fair shake :) I understand first impressions are hard to overcome.
just admit your country is a poophole LOL
But showing the nice part doesn't give views and hurts Amerimutt egos.
And Brussel Nord is where the ho's street is.
Right? When I first arrived in Belgium from Norway, I landed at Gare du midi at 23h00 and was shocked at what I was seeing.
I have now lived in the city for quite some time and this video is very misleading.
I have lived in London, Paris, Marseille, travelled more times than I can count to Southern Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Madrid and I find it to be a joke calling Brussels the most dangerous city. Not by a stretch.
Every city has its shady areas and ours is south station but it's being renovated and the city has gone is going great transformation. We have some of the most beautiful green spaces from Duden to Josephat to cinquantenaire to name but a few.
I have come to love Brussels very much although I'm looking to move on soon. I have had the most wonderful time here and the Brussels crowd is one of the most wonderful, loving and welcoming crowd I have met.
Bruxelles je t'aime. Brussel ik hou van jou❤❤❤❤❤
We love eachother in Brussels.
I fully agree with you. I have the impression the author experienced some kind of frustrations in a near past in Brussels and wants to unload it by insisting to show the same place for long minutes. Why not show Charleroi for example?
My daughter travelled Europe on her own. She said Brussels was the most terrifying place for a lone woman to walk. Migrants were the problem. Not many seen on this video. Wonder why?
Maybe he didn’t want to put no one out like that but he also said it wasn’t a good place from the beginning
The city center is fine but when you find yourself in the wrong part of town after dark, it gets scary really fast. I arrived at a bus station in the North of Brussels and it was full of drug addicts and aggressive drunks. Got a taxi and out of there as fast as I could.
Come to Brazil and you will see dangerous
10:22 $17? Holy cow! 😂
They only come out at night 😂
im from belgium we have so many nice towns and places but brussels is just turned into a shithole with crime and garbage everywhere
they realy need to do something drastic specialy with the crime
Kortrijk is on the way. Antwerp too
@@EzeLolo86noo not Antwerp :( I loved it there
They should but they won't
I judge a country by their capital city. If they can't manage the seat of power and everything, the country is lost.
@ in that case, every country is screwed. 🤣🤣
We visited Brussels last January and enjoyed it. We stayed in a nice hotel in a nice area and enjoyed our visit. There were definitely two different sides to the city. Then we headed via train to Amsterdam.
Brussels was a great up until about 20 years ago........but now an Islamic rat hole, London, Paris, Berlin & Amsterdam going the same way..........terrifying & so so sad.........BLAME THE POLITICIANS.
It actually looks a lot better and more vibrant than 20 years ago, but sadly there are many more homeless people these days.
@@jsjssgjsjsuwjxjsaksjxjxn dirt and more rubbish makes a city look better. cool story bro.
More clients for you mom
Ur just racist
You sound jealous because Muslims keep european inner cities and high streets alive with small businesses and a young population xD
Isn't Belgian.
London Isn't English.
Stockholm Isn't Swedish.
That's multiculturalism for you....
Those in davos laugh at their handiwork …
and europe isn't celtic ...........latin
Ireland, Scotland, Wales, parts of France, Cornwall in England and Vigo in Spain are Celtic. @@nodata1385
Sabbatical is right there were a lot of wars across Europe, that killed millions, but that is dwarfed by wars that happened in India and China. Indian scholars estimate 80 million died in Indian wars from the Mughal invasion, over a couple of centuries, and theres still fighting today between the 2 biggest religious groups., Most people are totally unaware of Chinese civil wars that killed over 75% of the whole Chinese population.
Then you had Stalin killing 20 million in the name of communism in Russia, around 40 million died under Chinese communists,
The period from 1945 until today is still the most peaceful in recorded history. Even with trouble in the Middle East, several Sunni vs Shia wars, Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, and a worldwide unofficial jihad going on, many wars across Africa, and parts of Asia, the world is still more peaceful today than ever but there are bad signs the world is headed for major wars again. Lets hope not.
Two years ago, I stayed in Belgium for a month on business. Lived in the village and really met great people. The Belgians are the best. But as soon as we went to the town of Verviers, it was scary. More like a ghetto than a city. Two acquaintances ended up with a stolen car, and one friend had his bag stolen. Sad..
Was there a pattern?
That's crazy cause you go there for a month and that happens. While I go there 20x per year, for 20 years and nothing happened ever? And not to my network either? Either you are litteraly having a curse on you or your friends made stupid mistakes.
@@teach450 I just wrote my experience. Don't assume if it's a curse or a mistake, but rather read my comment again. The fact that you go to Belgium 20 times a year means absolutely nothing to me and it won't change the fact that we were robbed and two of our cars were stolen.
@@misterdog7 nope, different cities, different time periods.
@@Themonikamo I am Belgian, I don't go 20 times to Belgium. Your story is really odd, I think your experiences aren't what the reality is. Just bad luck, bad timing. Don't get me wrong it happens
Not worse than London, Paris or Marseille for all that.
Sure insecurity and population replacement have become problematic there, benefits of multiculturalism being mostly utopian imo, in the way they’re sold to us.
However Brussels has a lot of nice and peaceful neighbourhoods, in my experience it’s especially some downtown areas around the city centre which are to avoid at some hours, as well as some municipalities of Brussels region which can be dangerous from time to time but some other municipalities are very chill and safe, whatever the hour of the day from what I’ve seen.
I think Paris and neighbouring districts of Parisian region such as 93 and 94 for instance are overall way more unsafe than Brussels btw
Wait until you find out that only 25% of Brussels' population are actually white Belgians.
I spended Christmas in Belgium. Stunning country, Brussels is gorgeous. Ghent, Bruges, Leuven are in my top 10 of most beautiful cities in the world
When I was shopping in Liege 20 years ago, a police officer was having an argument on the street with some man. A group of people gathered around. There were other officers nearby. The police officer put his walkie-talkie down on the ground and he and the man went down a side street to have a fist fight. The crowd followed to watch. A young man then walked past me and grabbed the walkie-talkie and strolled off. I went over to the other officers and informed them. They chased after the young man to retrieve the walkie-talkie and arrested him. The fist fight was more verbal than physical and the crowd started to leave. I just remember thinking what a strange city Liege was and what a strange country altogether. So I went into a department store nearby and continued shopping.
Toutes les villes belge sont spéciale 😂😂😂 et je suis dans le centre de liège pour l'instant 😂😂😂
Sounds like the early beta version of GTA 5 🤣
Keep shopping my friend!
PS I love Luik/Liege/Luttich though it has cleaned up its act too much since the old days. It was a good laugh to visit there near the Cathedral and the Quai 20 or 30 years back.
yep, Liege and Charleroi are way worse than Brussels. At least in Brussels you can find some nice places if you stay in the city center. Liège and Charleroi are like molenbeek extended to an entire city. The crackhead concentration in Liège is crazy.
I was in Brussels in 2010, chilling and drinking beer in a park. There were two muslim guys with British accents, huge beards and those long pakistani pyjama shirt looking things, talking in English about weapons and hand-to-hand combat and self defense. I went to drink elsewhere as it was a little weird.
When I left the park, this squad of cops with body arnour and dogs swarmed in to the park ...seemed like something was going down. Always wondered if those two were implicated or not.
Could never happen over here in Trumpistan. Drinking in a park will get you arrested. Because Jesus. Better to piss on a park bench like our homeless do.
@@ernestmurphy2741Trumpistan? are you serious? It has been like that in the US forever and “Biden/Kamal” are in power. Are you this fucking dense?
Belgium is known in Europe for being the place to get unregistered weapons. That guys meeting the description you gave were talking about that in Brussels is concerning. You have to question why they were there in the first place. And admittedly that was 14 years ago, but how many guys like that have been there since then, and how many are going there today.
Im from Belgium and gangs in Brussels are either north-african (moroccan or algerian) or black african (mostly congolese or west-african). By the sound of their attire those 2 dudes are Pakistani. You will rarely see Pakistani criminals over there. Mostly they work nightshops. Im pretty sure those 2 dudes were just tourists from the UK.
@@ernestmurphy2741Why do you bring Trump into this conversation ?
I’m from Brooklyn,NY born and raised and just visited Brussels earlier this year for about 8 hours or so then jumped back on the EuroStar high speed train to Paris where I was vacationing at. Honestly I had a great time there during my short visit. I got to see the pissing mannequin and the Atomium. I like their subway system because they offer a day pass unlike Paris and you just tap and go. I didn’t find it dangerous at all of course being I was raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn during the rough 90s decade. Also felt more safe there than in some housing projects I hung out with my family where they lived in Puerto Rico. It’s a nice country and I would definitely visit again if I had the time and money 💰 I really would like to visit Ghent and Bruges and Antwerp.
Because it isn't that dangerous. This guy is just sensationalizing for clicks.
@@holygooff yeah man I bet. Not once did I feel threatened out there.
Antwerp, Gent and Leuven are the best cities to visit in Belgium...Bruges is kind of over touristic and mord expensive.
@@geertnoels3266 Good to know. Thanks for the tips.
Great video!! I've not been to Brussels but ive heard its worth avoiding on the other hand I've been to Bruges and Ypres very nice i would like to go back. My dear old grandfather was at the battle of Ypres he spent 3 years on the western front his experiences there made quite an impression on him, and me, God bless him and all those soldiers.
I live 15min from Brussels and I can say youre really stretching it. Its really not that bad. You should just know where not to go and where to go cuz its actually a nice place
What a sad comment. You shouldn’t have to avoid any part of a city. Lib.
I lived in Brussels for 11 years around 30 years ago - the area around Gare du Midi was always shitty.
He’s going to the “Grand PALACE”??? How about “Grand’ Place”…. Lots of lovely areas, especially the southern districts. It’s like this guy intentionally went to the ugliest parts. Equivalent to walking around the projects in New York City and ignoring Central Park.
I enjoyed living in Brussels.
@@LizzyMom
He showed the city. It’s a cesspool.
Brussels is certainly one of the scetchier areas in Belgium. There are definitely others to avoid even more like the old wallonian industrial cities like Charleroi where the situation is arguably worse. But there are defenitively beautiful cities in Belgium too like Leuven, Ghent, Tournai, Bruges, Dinant, ... The thing to wrap your head around as a tourist is that when you want to go visit Belgium, the capital isn't really your number one priority, except maybe for some monuments like the main square, royal palace or the musea around. Oh and when you visited Ypres, what you saw in the main square isn't a tourist trap but actually part of an tradition called "kermis" which is an annual social event which finds its roots in the 'year-fares' where towns would organize a feast every year where traders would come in, people would gather and buy items that would otherwise not be available, celebrate and play games. The games you saw, like shooting galleries, kids rides, lotteries, duck fishing, etc, are the present day continuation of this tradition that you can find anually in a lot of towns and villages, even small ones. They only run for a short period of time then move to another town.
"They put a bunch of mayonnaise on top of it" - bro that's what you ordered
It’s mad their national dish is a side dish, an accompaniment to the main event everywhere else.
@@leesmusic1 and they cope by saying they invented fries when historical records do show they were invented as street food in Paris in the early 19th century
@@josefpoukine I’m sorry but it’s just lame isn’t it? It’s like having mashed potatoes with butter as your national dish, it’s so lacking in invention that its kind of embarrassing
@@leesmusic1 Yes it's really lame. They go out with friends and genuinely just get a bunch of fries with some toppings and that's it... it's so boring
Nah ..HP brown sauce ..now that's munching !
Buddy, calling the Grand Place, Grand Palace as you did, immediately disqualifies you from saying anything, bad or good, about Brussels! How hard can it, even for an American, to realize that Grand Place means Big Square? And if you're in the town's Big Square, what could that tall building be? The Town Hall, maybe? That's a good shot, methinks!
Charleroi! You must visit, it's worse than Brussels, Europe's most depressing city!
When you see shit in the streets its not from a dog. Passers-by look crazed and off their heads. Went there once and that was quite enough.
I was in Charleroi once, at the train station, and I needed to pee. I decided to just take a piss in the station elevator. Normally I would never dare to do just a thing, but the environment sucked so much that it just seemed fitting and perfectly okay.
Very true
Jep... It's an actual shithole
I once lost direction in some depressing suburb of Charleroi … riding a Ducati. Luckily i survived and the Ducati didn’t get stolen or burned.
When I read the title and assuming you were still in France, I really thought this video would be about Marseille, haha!
Marseille is def wild too, I can’t lie
There are very pretty parts in Marseille, the city gets a bad reputation for a few neighbourhoods quite far from the city centre. Exactly like in Paris or other large cities, you should not go in neighbourhoods that are far from everything, especially social housing estates, in the far north or north east
I loved Marseille. Looks great and the most important thing, people carrying joints like cigaretters
Marseille, another ☪️ancer city
Same here
13:00 the first Belgian king (1831) , was actually of German descent and did not speak any Dutch at all. The Belgian Royal family are all native french speakers. It is also not true that he forced the city to become french speaking.
The reality is that Belgian nobility/clergy and bourgeoisie were all french-speakers, due to French being the language of higher education, as well as all official positions troughout the 18th century.
So the native Dutch-speaking bourgeoisie, who had recently risen up to become richer and of higher social status, all had learnt French at this point to integrate themselves into high society.
What followed, was the passing down of French as second language, or even as the first language which led to the French assimilation of Brussels.
Accurate rectification. Also, Dutch is a modern import. It even was the only official language of Belgium in the short period when the territory was under Dutch rule (1815-1830) after the Napoleon wars and before Independence. But it never made it to the population up until it was adopted as the second official language decades later.
@@Toto8opus I can't entirely agree, as the majority of the population in Brabant spoke their local (dutch) dialects well before the 18th century. They were followed by a slightly smaller group in the south, who spoke various Walloon (French) dialects. Which is mostly portrayed in the current division of the provinces.
The Dutch king's attempt to make Dutch the only official language, was never really that successful, as the language of politics in the southern Netherlands had been French for over a century at that point.
What really happened, is that during this period of 1815-1830, the high officials and politicians kept using French as their sole language in their administration, even at the States General of the Netherlands. The rising tensions caused by the policies of King William I ultimately led to the Belgian revolution.
half right, brussels remained a majority dutch speaking city until it was forced to change, bureaucrats were forced to speak fluent french even postmen had to be fluent in french, dutch was disregarded and in fact the civil code was only officially translated to dutch in 1960.
poor flemings were forced out and francophones moved in alongside the french educated elite. eventually the city was left devoid of a soul, you can't kill the domminant language and then think you'l retain social cohesion and harmony, francification destroyed brussels as much as dutchification would destroy any succesfull french city
Leopold I, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, took the constitutional oath on 21 July 1831 to become the first King of the Belgians. That is the family Saxe (as in saxon) Coburg and Gotha/ Windsor
@@bleromafia We disagree only on this that "Brabants" dialects would have been "Dutch" and "Walloon" dialects would have been "French". It's true that Brabants dialects are part of the germanic linguistic group and Walloons are part of the latin one to keep it simple. But they are both respectively very different from Dutch and French. So, nobody spoke Dutch in the territories that fell under Dutch rule at that time, whence much resistance, among other things, from the Flemish bourgeoisie who used mostly French due the influence coming from France and the Enlightenment.
The province division in Belgium is a legacy from the French occupation and is no direct reflection of the cultural divides, just like the departments in France for the same reasons. The French revolutionaries tries indeed to deter any sense of regionalism when they created them.
I've spent four weeks in Brussels (2×2 weeks) and I loved it. 😊🎉❤
As a belgian that is born in brussel, I just can confirm that
I left the city, my dad moved to another country.
Its like Brussel is rotting from the inside and lot of cities in Belgium are following that track, no joke
But why? Belgium is a rich country, isn’t it? And don’t be ashamed, Berlin doesn’t look any better!
@@MR-mw4njye Belgium is rich. But Brussels has nothing to do with Belgium anymore. It's infested with economic migrants, petty criminals, drug addicts.. I think more than 50 pct of the city is immigrant. So there you have it..
Go to Gent, Brugge, Kortrijk, Leuven, Hasselt, Tongeren there you'll find true Flemish/Belgian culture(Antwerpen also I would say but this place, together with Rotterdam, is the drug capital of Europe, and lots and lots of islamists).
It's happening all over Europe. All by design of course.
A population without shared values is easier to control.
@@MR-mw4njbecause of immigrants from Africa and the middle east
It rots because of unemployed folks and a lot of illegals.
I live in Belgium, the Flamish part, and Brussels is a city by itself. Imigrants around the world keep coming here and they only can check if they legal or not if they arrive in Brussels, but the justice system makes hard to send illegals out of Belgium, so that´s why you have so much homeless on the streets, you couldn´t imagine how many immigrants do get help, but if you are legal, you get more help money wise by the system then people who worked 50 years in Belgium, the system is broken, young people can´t affort buying a house without big help of parents, but legal immigrants get cheap housing, and so on. Looks like it´s in all west europe countries, but it also looks everything is now changing because they are starting to shut borders in Germany, so probably the other west europe countries will follow
This is what is happening here in the US. It just takes more time to fill us up since we are a larger country.
Canada as well 😢
@@whathappenedtofreethinking6902 I think some places in the US like Portland and San Francisco are much further along the poop chute than even Brussels is. The Progressives in the US point to Europe and say why can't we be more socialist like the Europeans and our leftists jump on every idiotic idea that comes out of the American progressives. They are importing US race theory and gender nonsense. And a lot of Europeans are very misinformed about US affairs. Recently I expressed happiness that Trump was elected at a family event and nobody understood how I could be in favour of that. Instead of the european filtered news I showed them the outright lies that CNN, MSNBC etc. had written and broadcast about Trump, I showed the Democrats arguing for third trimester abortions, showed larger clips putting the Liz Cheney rifle quote in context, and the fine people hoax. At the end they were basically all nodding "yes, yes, I see how he got elected".
That's the replacement theory of your native people your king and late queen are related to Mohammed and are so into their bloodline
Do you have proof that legal immigrants 'get' cheap housing ? Btw have you ever been in big German cities ? There are a lot more homeless people sleeping everywhere, even in parks or appartment blocks. I even saw a half naked old guy shooting himself with heroin in a front garden of what was supposed to be the fancy part of the cute city of Bremen .
Brussels is known as a crime-infested city all over europe though it is the bureaucratic centre of the continent.
A lot of politicians are criminals, so that makes sense :D (just a joke)
😂 really what kind of crime and since when is it infested?
Bureaucratic crime being the worst
Sounds like D.C.
Yea cause the EU bureaucrats are the criminals.
"theres probably like 100 different squares in Europe that look like this"?!!! bullshit.
belgium has same problem as the other EU states , mass obligated immigration by European commission, they are fed and sheltered by our tax payers money,while our own belgian people who are in trouble and live on the streets get nothing. the illegal ones live of crime and theft. price of everything(rent/groceries/energy ext) went op x3 in 10 years because of that. Our police force is outnumbered under trained and underfunded to deal with all the criminality, and all our prisons are overflowing(we rent prison space in the Netherlands rofl). Belgium need a new revolution and cleanup for sure, as the rest of Europe.
Yep. The problem was as obvious as the people on the street. I'll stay far, far away from that place. EU politicians have destroyed Europe.
But you can't sustain your population without immigrants. You cannot get enough workers to pay into your social security. You think everything is free? Come on open your eyes
"it's a divided country they speak many languages" me watching as a Swiss 😅
you're talking about Euro languages among neighbors though. You know what he means, or you will soon.
70% of switzerland speaks German or Swiss German. It's different
but in zwitserland people learn these languages on school while in belgium the french part refuses to learn dutch.
They also refuse to speak dutch do you see why its divided?
zwitserland also has spefici laws about languages in belgium its all over the place
Thought it would be Birmingham at first lol. Brussels is a close second though.
England is not Europe anymore éh brother
@@Marc.Martainwhat continent is England in now? 😅
@@Marc.Martain Europe and European Union are two very different things...
@@Marc.Martain it is 😂 its just not in the EU (Europian Union) anymore
@@Marc.Martain I didn't realize the European Union was a continent. I guess Switzerland and Norway aren't in Europe as well. My bad 🤣
Not watched in a while, Forgot how good your channel is. Love how you can go anywhere and know some lingo and can share some facts.
I'm Belgian. Brussels is like that place we all have in our house, the place you try to keep shiny and sterile, where you want to be left alone, where you pass time on your smartphone or reading the newspaper, and you leave as soon as you dropped your package. 😉😁
Familie van Dries?
Crazy answer must come from a flemish person who "hates" Brussels a lot?
Important note !
Belgium was founded because we fought a war of independence against the dutch king (1830). What is now the netherlands, was the protestant north and what is now Belgium, was the catholic south, there's a whole history to it but, it partly the reason to it.
Because britain sided us against the dutch, we won and Belgium was founded.
You're wrong: it weren't UK but France. On 2 August 1831 the Dutch army invaded Belgium and defeated Belgian forces in several battles. On 4 August the Dutch took control of Antwerp and moved deeper into Belgium. The Belgian army was defeated in the battle of Hasselt. On 8 August Leopold called for support from the French. As a result French Marshal Étienne Maurice Gérard crossed the border with 70,000 French troops under his command on 9 August. The battle of Leuven began on 12 August. In order to avoid war with the approaching French the Dutch agreed an armistice with Belgium and withdrew. The Dutch continued to hold the Antwerp Citadel and occasionally bombarded the city from it. French Marshal Gérard returned to Belgium in November 1832 with the Armée du Nord and besieged the citadel taking it on 23 December 1832. Without the French, Belgians would be Dutch today.
@@verttijineu2776We always learned that the dutch fled out of what became Belgium out of fear. The Belgians (having no army at that time) were just too strong for the dutch army. It al started with a theatric play ‘The mute from Portici’ wich triggered the people to have some fun by chasing the scary dutch soldiers.🧐
@@seneca175weren't the Austrians also involved in all of that somehow?
Nope. There were the Austrian Netherlands, simply speaking, from 1556 till 1794. Then it became French, then Dutch in 1815, then independent in 1831. No Austria around to blame for anything, sorry.
and then you lost WWII, and now you're here.
Nobody ever said Brussels is boring. Its not a great city. But it certainly aint boring.
Pretty boring to me
😂😎🗣️💯
It can't be boring cause it's a massive shithole and there's always some shit going on
Looks dirty as hell!
It is SHIT everybody knows that shit (and yes i live in Belgium)
Im belgian living jn Brussels for 38 years. You just went in the worst neighborhood in brussels, outside this area there are great places and its not boring if you know where to go.
I am living just outside Brussels but working already many years in Brussels and coming often to Brussels during the weekends. You went indeed to the worst neighourhood in Brussels coming out of the Gare du Midi. And you missed some nice places like the Cinquantenaire, the museums and the atomium. Some places are I admit very dirty but the the eastern part of the city is very nice. And about the Grand-Place, there are very few places in Europe that have similar squares.
@@wmario7 Some youtubers are always looking for the worst places to film the crap that people like to see. Just like most journalists do.
Finally a comment that makes sense.
i lived in Brussels from 1984-1999 - i loved Brussels. Gare du Midi was beginning to be a dangerous area during that time. The immigration issue has eroded Brussels and the nation. The Gran Place is still an amazing experience. The Palace of Justice has been under construction since, at the least, the 1980s
The lengthy renovation works of the justice palace symbolize the effort it will take to fix our broken justice system, it's almost poetic
@thatoneguy7191 you're not the first I have heard to express that very point.
It’s about time to start fixing what was renovated in the 80’s again
It's been so long the scaffolding is now being renovated.
it's disgusting to see what our europe is becoming
Blame the uninvited
@@jerseycatmews828 i blame the traitors among us
“At least we don’t speak German”
Jokes apart, I think the bad guys won WW2.
@@MrJafar93blame both
Now yall understand the United States problems yall used to mock us for. We have been letting the riff raff in for centuries 😂
I visited Brussels a few years ago, I saw 3 young Arab looking men kill a bird and throw it in one of the waterways. They found it hilarious. I've also never been accosted to buy cocaine more anywhere else in the world, and I live in Philly.
no belgians in brussels. it used to be a flemish city, now it's 90% french and the majority of those third world foreigners. Most people i know actively avoid brussels.
Parisian here, grew up on the outskirts so I 've had my share of fucked up situations and places. Never been to Bruxelles but only Antwerp, which was pretty cool, except the main station area, as in the vide here. Some things are the same everywhere I guess. The French today hav an extra info always on the corner of their minds: most of the fuckers who slaughtered people at the Bataclan and at the Petit Cambodge, mong others, came from Molenbek, whatever the proper speling is. A Brussels hood.
That's what happens when you invite excessive amount of people from the third worl
@@Mikamichae Invite!? They come illegally!
@@Mikamichae Thats what happens when you go to parts of the world and colonise them,strip them of resources and extract what you want and treat them like slaves !!! Did you not listen to him talk about King Leopold who ruled Congo as his own fiefdom and slaughtered millions of Congolese and chopped off peoples hands and tied them to trees.They were there for the rubber plantations and probably a sizable chick of Belgiums wealth was built on the backs of Africans...the chocolate as well as if I am right hcocolate doesn't grow in Belgium !!!!
Also maybe check your iphone and other tec see how your consumer goods are still fuelled by exploiting coltan mines and fuelling wars still today in Congo before you talk 3rd world and exploitation !!!
Look at the shit going on in your name and by the companies you buy from and how your governments allow it !!!! before you talk about "excessive amounts"
Brilliant insight, it couldn't be said or shown better. Thank you for this vlog.
If you want danger, visit Marseilles! Although it does have some beautiful architecture and great food, it's also full of gangsters!
Clint Dempsey gets depressed after the end of his football career.
I always get the same feeling in Brussels as you, but when I go to Antwerp I fall in love every time. If I go to a city other than mine (The Hague, Holland) for a nice day, it is Antwerp. What nice people there. .I love them
Anvers est magnifique ma ville de naissance. Et la ville des mafia et Bruxelles la ville où je vis , la ville des gangs. A Bruxelles il n'y a pas de loi pour ainsi dire et à Anvers il faut respecter la loi .
@@axeldegives3817
Oui,je pense que tu as raison .
Mais tu me parles la plus belle langue du monde.
C'est aussi quelquechose,et on trouve des gens sympas partout dans le monde ,y compris à Bruxeless.
@@leonwerne9501merci ❤
But we don't love the Dutch...
@@holygooff I can imagine.
I don't need half of that shouting either.
I've watched about four of your episodes now and considering that l normally find it difficult to sit still for that long, I'm finding your presentations very entertaining. Well done.
I have good memories on my strip to Brussels. Love the classic buildings combined with the strange brutalists architecture.
WW! was a horrific torturous war. My Great Grandmother fled from Lithuania with 2 young children to Ellis Island. She was part of a Lthuanian-Swedish resettlement in NY. She remarried a wealthy Forest Park Ill. lumber Co. She becamse a affluent Chicago Womens Right to Vote suffrage movement Coordinator. Thank you for teaching, sharing all your history, and knowlege. it helps me understand our world.
A lot of European city councils leave public lawn areas grow wild in the summer to help bees and insects, plus it saves money on weed killers and having to pay people to mow them.
This is true! My american friend complained the lawns were not mowed in the parks (in Canada). It's for insects and flowers, not because of lack of money
I think that's also related to late COP on biodiversity. Our governments try to release green area to local life! In Brussels, you can walk close to foxes in some of the garden parks he visited (e.g. just behind the EU parlement)!
Didn't think of that angle. I didn't see this with other monuments though
@@SabbaticalTommyThe fact that the statue is still there is very questionable
Huh, that's a very enlightened idea, more should do the same. Though it may not be the best for areas with significant snake populations.
If you take in half of Kalkutta you don't help Kalkutta, you become Kalkutta.
What does a city in the east of India have to do with Belgium
@@ygt626 Take a wild guess.
@jeanlundi2141 not many indians in belgium seems irrelevant
Looks like they have a nice ferris wheel. Always like a good ferris wheel.
Brussels is not so bad at all, it has good and sometimes bad places. Like every big city in the world...
I visited Belgium for summer vacation from Abu Dhabi back in 2014. As an American, I’ve seen much worse in some of our inner cities (I grew up 15 minutes outside Baltimore). I’ve travelled throughout Europe and Asia, and lived in Abu Dhabi for nearly 20 years. Ironically, my wife and I enjoyed Belgium, including Brussels, so much we considered moving there.
Moving here....😂😂😂😂 I am here for 20 years. Can't wait to move to Bulgaria or Greece!
@@StuVideff Some people aren't too bright
To be fair, 2014 was 10 years ago, which is a long time. Especially now as things move rapidly. I would trust this vlog more as it's more recent
Notice this was before the 2016 invasion incident
@@fair98fairtotally agree...OP is irrelevant to this video and current situation across most of Europe
Taking one for the team, Tommy! You're a real trooper for doing this video. I've been curious about Bruxelles for years as a musician because to its jazz scene, but I'm also aware of its seedier reputation in the very areas and neighborhoods you show us in the video. I think I might just sit this one out. Caveat emptor!
I lived in Brussels in the late 2000s and it was beautiful, clean, peaceful, safe. I literally did not recognize it in this video.
because it's right-wing propaganda
that's what happens when the communist leftists take control
The city center is cra.ppy, dirty, not safe these days. Drug Trafficking is on the rise, loads of homeless migrants. And if you read the news, you know that Hungary is bringing in some more by bus. Restaurants and commerces are shutting down and leaving due to the blatant lack of security. Women get harassed by frustrated young men with values alien to liberal sexuality. And the overall impression is just one of very ugly filthy mess. The 18 other municipalities surrounding the center are not that bad though and are even thriving in comparison.
@@Toto8opus crmies rates have been decreasing decade by decade, steadily. But sure, keep lying ♥
@@reflectingPastChoices No, I meant that the city literally looks so shitty now vs. how nice it used to be.
I was here last week! It was scary as hell at the north station, but I have survived :)
Thank you for the indepth history lesson!
Although you have missed very important things about Belgium. It is definitely worth to visit for a week or more.
The uncut grass is not left because of the laziness but because of the bees and view when it flowers. They leave the grass the same way in Switzerland, and they are very tidy nation!
They are also very easy going, but still like to preserve things. There are whole buildings converted to museums with Art noveau style and are being constantly preserved and tourists are actually allowed to walk inside!
They are also very unamericanized nation, which I really love about. Also, would you walk in New York at outskirt at night, probably not, so in a way these cities are not that much different.
But there is a huge contradiction that I have felt, in a way they are very conservative nation (at least dutch part), but there are rainbow and multi gender flags everywhere. Maybe the government is artificially pushing this to people.
Also I have heard government is trying to discourage people from drinking BEER! In Belgium where there are so many microbreweries. Imagine that. That is why a lot of youngsters are not drinking it. But instead they use much worse things to get high.
Scary? You must be shitting your pants on the daily
This guy is really the most depressed I 've seen making a video about Belgium. 😂
It's because I don't make RUclips videos 😂
Went to Brussels a few yrs back had a great time🇨🇮,
Did Brussels last year. First thing I saw when I got off the train was a fight breaking out. After that I tried to get a Taxi into town and the taxi drivers started fighting, was not confident in the place at all. But after all that, I loved the place. Had a great time.
Midi is the worst place to begin your journey lol but that’s how most of the train stations in Europe are now, always a mild red area to be in
How did you go from seeing all that then loving the place??? That’s a BIG jump! I’d like to hear about how that happened. lol
@@fran1514 Funny thing is, most of the main railway stations in the UK are nowhere near this dangerous. I bet people will tell me I'm wrong though, which shows the level of cope among both Americans and continental Europeans.
First day I arrived in Brussels, my wife and I were walking to the city center next to a large park. Some guy was throwing fire crackers into the traffic, scaring the Hell out of all of the tourists walking down the street and confusing the drivers who couldn't figure out where the bangs were coming from. The city center was so packed with people that it was hard to move around. Bruges, Dinant, Bastogne, all nice, but Brussels is a shithole.
Why?
@@bimmjim Because of all the corrupt EU policitians.
@@WCC-ps8jtBecause EU floods their countries with people who don’t assimilate, want handouts. Also these “migrants” whatever TF you want to call them are the worst of the worst from these other countries that come in to the EU. They aren’t getting schooling educated or skilled craftsman that’s for sure lmao
@@Tromdubs and brownoids.
I worked in literally every city in Belgium but Brussels was definitely the worst. Go to Molenbeek or Schaarbeek those areas are something else xD. The Flaams City´s were a lot cleaner and better.
I was there a few times. In general the city not near the station is really good. But had a terrible experience with the police. I was waiting near the police station for my coach back to London because the rain was pouring down the sky. I have mobility issues so I use walking stick. But after like 1 hour of waiting there (I had some 2 more hours left) there were 3 vans and 12 cops around me, very aggressive. And they demanded that I have to leave. They knew I am a tourist but they didn't care. They were very aggressive and were just laughing while I was trying to tell them that's raining and I am disabled. When I showed them my walking stick they nearly beat me up with their batons. i had to go with my lugggage and wait in the rain at the coach stop. When I was leaving those bas...rds were just laughing at me .Terrible experience.
Yet gangs from the Congo have at each other with machetes and spears and the netro police stand by and do nothing.
@@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul
Good. Let them fight.
I went to Brussels around 2000 was lovely!!
I’ve been there many times, all over Belgium and it’s always been amazing
Even now? I was there 10 odd years ago. It was nothing like this...
@@T_T-99 Yes, Belgium’s still got it!
I just want to mention that Brussels isn't the "capital of Europe", it's just where EU parliament is (although there's another one in Strasbourg in France now) and is the historical center of the EU. The EU is just an economic organization, it's not a country. Europe is just a continent that has many countries, some of them are part of the EU, some are not, and there is a Schengen space also which is basically a trade zone where people are freely to move between frontiers. Some countries were part of the EU but not of the Schengen space, that was the case of the UK for example.
But we each have our own countries. I'm from France and I'm glad that our country is part of the EU and I hope it'll stay that way. Many people here like to spit on the EU but that's only because they don't know what the EU brings to them, a certain economic stability and a guarantee to travel freely across all of the EU countries among many other things. 🙏
The EU isn’t just an “economic organization” lmfao. It’s a full blown political Union and basically is an unofficial confederation and it even resembles a federation in some aspects.
@xStrychninexxx I know that it is also a political organization but not in the sense that they have an agenda, officially they remain neutral. So no, it doesn't work the same way as a federation , sorry, that's what you Americans don't understand about the EU... We are still our own countries even within the EU and we have full political "freedom". The only things that can be "forced" on us are indeed economic policies or environmental ones.
@xStrychninexxx a federation is not what the EU is. We have our own governments, there is no "EU federal government". I'm the one living in Europe
Brussels midi is not the central station, (That would be Brussels central), it's the south station.
Awesome video, very interesting and I did not know that about French Fries that they were invented by the Belgian’s, so now I’ll refer to them as Belgium Fries. I’m from the land down under by the way.
Take a 45 minute trip and come to Charleroi! You are going to LOVE IT!
This is a certified HOOD classic
lmao he had to capitalize on it, too.
DAMN son, where'd ya find this?
Nothing to be proud of
@@TuckerWilson-u2x Baby, that's a triple!
Phonk rare vibes all over the place where my phonk fam is locos?
Good work man.
I've been all over the world and all over RUclips and I can say you're truly an inspiration.
LOL
Went to Brussels by Eurostar in Sept, it was safe as houses! Great base to use the train network for Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges as well. As a man in my mid 60's I didn't feel the least uncomfortable walking back to my hotel late at night.
Belgian here: it really depends on the neighbourhood. Gare du midi, Gare du nord, Molenbeek, etc are neighborhoods with a really bad reputation. But there's plenty of pretty neighborhoods too.
"In Flanders fields, the poppies blow; Between the crosses, row on row; That mark our place, and the sky; The larks, still bravely singing, fly; Scarce heard amid the guns below." The first half of the video, I did not care for. The second part was pure gold. Thank you.
🤣🤣🤣
Who did that poem?? It's on the tip of my tongue
When was the last time you take a look a Belgian sky? Geo-engeneerd weather, camtrails...
@@reggie933 Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (Canadian military doctor)
My Great Uncle is named on the Menin Gate YPRES A.R.Richardson English 🏴 Blessings dear Uncle xx Fought & survived the Battle of Loos ❤ died fighting at Lebrique.
I visited the monument with school. May your great uncle rest in peace! 🙏🏻
@@jordy786 Thank you x
My grandfather was from the 7eme de ligne at Ypres.
Hell, watching this video, I would have sworn you were in downtown Atlanta!
Brussels represents the EU (as an organisation) perfectly, because it started out great and turned into a bleak, soulless, depressing nightmare.
Well, he's done something I've never done, went into a shop and bought only one beer.
Absurdism isn't just an art style. In Belgium it's also government policy.
I live in Brugge, West-Flanders.
Every time I see a video about Belgium I’m proud that our tiny country is getting recognized but also disappointed by how dirty and run over the cities are.
I would’ve recommended you to visit Brugge. In my own opinion the most pretty city, everything is in walking distance and there are multiple museums and guided tours that will explain the history of the city.
I at first thought it was a tourist attraction but they actually are really interesting to watch/do.
It's possible that the grass was left over grown on purpose to encourage wild flowers, bees and other vital pollinators. This is done in the UK. It also reduces the costs to the local council not having to continualy maintain it.
Because saving the money to mow the lawn lets the government spend billions on the war in Ukraine
You can't be serious.....they blew the budget for maintenance on asylum seekers (virtue signaling with public money) and giving themselves an above inflation pay rise. They also wrecked the private economy (source of taxation) with their idiotic lockdown policies.
In my city also, with a left municipal governement,
They want diversity in nature, so let grass growing, in some parts of the city, so insects and so on can live there.
@@aheroyaheroyalproductions7631 They also don't collect the garbage so that the rats have some food to eat. Such nice people.
yes, don't know for Brussels but in Leuven, a Flemish university town near Brussels, they don't mow before end of June.
This is a very biased view. I've worked in Brussels for over 30 years and lived there for a few years, and have never been attacked or robbed. It is true that you better avoid some areas at night, but unfortunately that is the case (or much worse) in many other cities as well. And yes, you can have a nice drink or eat something at midnight in totally safe conditions.
That's weird I'm belgian, not from Brussels, but I always loved the city, it has lots of green spaces and you obviously don't know the place, there's lots of good things too
You’re probably from Ethiopia
@@BFaluupstupid remark
@@susangreenwood7864 great remark, had to laugh
@@syntric Not being sarcastic, but share those places please? Brussels for me is a very cold, very dirty and very hostile place. Prove me wrong.
@@MrKalekop Very cold? Where do you come from? Brussels has really mild winters for its latitude, lol.
I love all your videos, I'm so impressed that you learn the language of some of your destinations as well as you do. I watched a lot of travel videos and not many people (that are funny) even try.😆😆😆😆😆👏👏👏👏👏👏
Don't forget German. It is one of the three official languages of Belgium. Theoretically everyone in Belgium can be a triglot.
Flemish speaking Belgian here 🖐 living near Ghent, working in Brussels. Although there's also very beautiful spots in our capital, you've nailed some painful truths about our present and history. I always say to people who want to visit my country: don't just go to Brussels and pretend you've seen Belgium, but don't skip it either. If you'd gone to Charleroi, you'd have seen apocalyptic scenes of abandoned industrial facilities from the above-ground rollercoaster-like metro train, being part of a "failed" project of building a full metro network in the neighborhood. Does that mean that I dislike Charleroi? No, I actually kind of appreciate its steampunk vibes, and it's beautiful for photography purposes, the same goes for Liege. Do I want to live there? No, but I still visit it from time to time, and I'd advise travelers to choose a few cities on the other end of the spectrum, in contrast to Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent. It shows a more complete picture. I love traveling to the outskirts and extreme locations across the world as well. When people ask me if I'm not afraid walking in dodgy areas at night, I say that I'm from Belgium and that I work in Brussels. Now I can refer them to your video. Still, I'm a proud Belgian and I believe Brussels is diverse, has lots to offer, and will get better over time.
You said diverse...no it won't get better.
>steampunk vibe
I wish they would literally turn Charleroi into a steampunk theme park to attract tourists.
@@tchek1980 Actually, if they'd use the profit to help the people living there, and offer them a job in the theme park, I'd be happy to visit. They do offer some kind of tours though, but I've got no idea what they offer and if they're legit. Buy hey, steampunk all the way!
'Proud Belgian' 😂. Stop pretending bro. We can absolutely be proud of some parts of our country, but definitely not of our state as a whole. Hell, nobody even really feels themselves to be Belgian.
Its complete trash
It seems that this is staged as a bad publicity for Brussels. Every big city in any country van be dangerous. I lived and worked in Guayaquil Ecuador. That is dangerous, was nearly killed there 3 times. Worked for many years in Brussels never had a problem there. I agree at thé Zuid-Station in Brussels you have a lot of arab thee houses, and the guys on the terrasses are really unrespectfull to women, which was documented on television, but it is not the hell hole Trump once described it. So please show some respect to thé Belgium people
i have to congratulate you for the amount of relevant history you provide in your commentary.
If this is the "garden" the Josep Borrel was talking about, I'll take the jungle anyday.
Do Marseille next
I genuinely thought he was actually in Marseille just for the first few seconds.
If your French, I'm sorry but Marseille is a dump.... why🤔
@@anthonymullen6300don't be sorry ! I'm french and I also consider Marseille to be a dump !
@@comedebreuille5396a dump because of a certain diversity that "enrich" us?
@@anthonymullen6300 you want an honest answer? Port cities are always rough to begin with. Guys out at sea for long periods of time come back to the city for a short time and go crazy with every vice you can imagine. Then, later on, you add immigration to it. After that, you add in a lot of illegal immigration. So you've got ladies of the evening, illegal substances, and tons of unskilled people that just arrived and can't find work. Perfect recipe for a slum soup.
I just returned from my second trip to Brussels. It's way underrated and gets shit on a lot. It has more to offer than people realize. The train station you were at is sketchy, no doubt.
Would love to see you in Scotland!
Brussels is the kind of city where people cling to that 10% that’s halfway decent, pretending the rest doesn’t exist. It’s almost admirable how some can overlook the obvious and convince themselves it’s charming, but hey, everyone has their coping mechanisms.
Brussels is very pretty , but they don't take good care of it. I think it's because it does'nt "belong" to anyone, noone actualy cares about it unlike Paris where if you try to touch one stone the inhabitant throw a law suit at you. My sister lives in Brussels first day in her appartment I look through the window and see a guy holding a gun in the street... I go to hide and keep the kids in the back of the appartment, my sister looks at me with blank eyes "why are you doing such a fuss?"
More than 10% is halfway decent, some parts are gorgeous. It's got it's ugly sides to it like pretty much every other capital city in Europe or the US. You just gotta know your way around it. A few months ago I visited Paris again after probably 12 years and there are definitely a lot of desolate, poor and ugly sides to it as well. You'll simply find that everywhere.
@@Zedem0n
It should be multi-cultural but it is *NOT*
@@backintimealwyn5736hasn't majority of the medieval and ancient architecture in Paris been destroyed there isn't much left to touch 😂. Bastion gone le temple keep gone la Louvre castle gone and few others etc. shame because they were stunning from what I could see from old sketches
This is kinda true but the 10% is nonsense. It is more like 50%.
Brussels is pretty rich and there are many good neighbourhoods.The city for people living there is more than decent, it is really good. Besides, real estate prices are still pretty low compared to the average income so you dont need to have a top job to live in a good neighbourhood. I now live in France, income is at least 20% lower, rent is higher and insecurity is a lot worse
To be fair, Gare Midi will be renovated soon-ish.
I sure hope it's faster than the renovation of the Palais de Justice 😂
Edit: But Brussels has a lot more to offer - recently, we also had some gang related shootings all over the city. And you guessed it, those guys were imported 😉
Not only was the area around Leopold overgrown, there was a deliberate strip of pristine grass edging the planters just to show that it is deliberate, love it
Not sure how my experience was diff but I got off Brussels Central one time and walked towards Grand Place. It was a very pleasant walk.
yeah he got off at the wrong station (and then wrongly claimed it was "the central station")
@@yuotueb yes. Tourists don’t really get off at midi
@@actoraine_we do when we come by train from London (and Lille)
I mean tourists would change train, assuming your destination is the historic center.
➡️ I've never seen a more deserted city. It's virtually empty, other than a few groups of tourists. Spooky...
THAT SQUARE IS VERY IMPRESSIVE, ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT
bru said a hundred like those in europe
When the vermin comes out.
Great content man. Liked & subscribed!