It’s perfect for helping – and encouraging- residents to use their spare weekends and evenings to fi

Fun Times In Europe was delighted when co-author and bon vivant Hughes (who has also written a section on friteries which will appear soon on this blog) suggested taking us for lunch in the Schuman area to talk about this book.
But it turned out that the pub in question, The Old Oak, is a favourite of the gourmet Frenchman. Also, the food was good quality pub grub, the service wholly smashing and the entire couple of hours entirely enjoyable.
Hughes and Sophie's guide to dining in the area frequented by politicians, hacks and Commission hamsters is extensive to say the least. Covered in the guide are hundreds of pubs, bars, cafés and restaurants – it took two years to write, in both English and French, by the way – and it is truly a labour of love.
And Hughes is certainly an enthusiast himself – some of the metaphors he used when talking about food were toe-curlingly smutty yet very funny too. We nearly blushed. travel lodge uk Nearly. So you can be sure that if he enjoyed himself at a particular establishment, he'll make no bones about letting you know, one way or another.
From a purely practical point of view this guide has the lot – it is portable, includes many photos, has an extensive and easily understandable set of illustrative symbols, costs less than a tenner (!) and will save you a fortune travel lodge uk that might otherwise have been spent on average travel lodge uk (or worse) meals.
travel lodge uk The magazine 'Wallpaper' is universally and rightly renowned for being visually travel lodge uk stunning and their city guides are no exception. The illustrations, while small, are very good and chosen with care and panache.
Also, everything you would expect content-wise is in here – mainly the obvious places to visit, the obvious bars and restaurants, the obvious shops, the obvious buildings and the obvious general backgrounders.
travel lodge uk Yes, it's all a bit, um, obvious but represents travel lodge uk a nicely sectioned, pocket-sized introduction to the city for someone on a weekend or week-long visit. It's not expensive, either, so it makes sense to have it lying around the house for mates or family when they pop in to see you.
In the end though, put bluntly, if you've been here for a while this guide will tell you very little that you didn't know already. But, to be fair, that's not its primary purpose. If you really want to dive under the covers travel lodge uk of the city you now call 'home', try the next book, below.
Now we're talking! This extensive, but again pocket-sized, guide does (pretty travel lodge uk much) what it says on the tin. It's aimed directly and, we would assume, successfully at the reader who has seen all the rest of the guides, ticked all the boxes, tried all the beers – in essence done the full on-the-surface tour of the Belgian capital.
From buildings off-the-beaten-track, to where to find the only section of our underground river that's visible in the city, to a museum travel lodge uk dedicated only to plastic, to many less well-known statues, hidden travel lodge uk parks and so much more besides, this is a superb tool.
It's perfect for helping – and encouraging- travel lodge uk residents to use their spare weekends and evenings to find and enjoy parts of Brussels that they may have walked close to but never knew existed. This book is full of gems and has clearly been created with intelligence and love. In essence, it's brilliant.
Sitting on the top deck even in the cold has its compensations though, as you get much better views of the city, its buildings and monuments, including Parc Cinquantenaire, the Bourse, the European Parliament and, of course, the Atomium.