We started the day once more by heading to the station. We had been struck by how expensive our restaurant meals had been yesterday and decided to seek a moderately priced breakfast.
This communal area serves several outlets
We made a tour of the many coffee bars in the station and chose one where there was a breakfast offer of coffee and a croissant for €1.80 with extra croissants at €1.0 each.
We decided to go for a tram ride because we like trams and riding the trams is a good way to see various parts of the town. The first question, however, was where to buy tickets,
Public transport in Brussels is run by a group know popularly as La STIB. This is an acronym for La Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles. We knew that we could buy 24-hour passes if only we could find a ticket machine. We assumed there would be ticket machines in the station but, if there are, we failed to discover them.
We asked a bus driver and a railway employee where we could buy tickets but in neither case did their advice lead to success.
STIB ticket machine
We at last found the station’s tram stop and here were some STIB ticket machines. We set the ticket type to 24-hour pass and clicked for two. They cost €7.50 each.
The machine can be set to the English language. For payment it accepts coins or credit/debit cards.
24-hour STIB ticket
(Photo by Tigger)
The 24-hour period starts when you tap your ticket on the card reader on the first bus or tram on which you use it.
Catholic Church of St Nicholas, Drogenbos
We travelled to the end of the tram line at Drogenbos where I photographed the Catholic Church of St Nicholas. This tram terminus is outside Brussels. Drogenbos is both a town and a commune in the region called Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant in Flemish, Brabant flamand in French).
For lunch we had a local delicacy bought from a takeaway shop. One cannot go to Belgium and not eat chips med mayo (chips with mayonnaise) at least once – it’s a sacred duty!
Working horse seen in the park
We ate our chips in a small park near the church. Earlier, I photographed this patient horse there. He later passed the chip shop where we were buying our lunch, pulling the cart that you can glimpse in the photo. I don’t know how common the use of horses is in modern Belgium but this is the first I have seen.
We undertook the long tram ride back to Brussels Midi station. There we decided to return “home” to our apartment for a rest and to prepare for our evening outing.
Meet us again then!
Posts
SilverTiger 