BITC, O. Van de Kerchove

Comic strip pop art colorfully graces scores of walls in Brussels, including this piece by Ric Hochet.

Comic Twist: Touring Brussels, Belgium

If you want to stump even the most astute history buff at a party, ask him to name five famous Belgians. All right, how about two?

Yes, it’s tough. The undeserved reputation for the country and its capital, Brussels, is that they’re boring and, therefore, so are their citizens. As the location of the European Union’s headquarters, Brussels has a reputation for producing enough red tape to tie up the continent in knots. Beyond that, there’s beer, moules and chocolates, and that’s pretty much what most people know or care to know about Brussels.

I think it's a conspiracy among the locals, keen to keep this gem to themselves. In truth, Brussels is a city that eats some of the best cuisine in Europe, wears some of its most innovative fashions, has some of its finest architecture and features a lively café culture that could give Paris an inferiority complex.

Brussels is an intrigue—not only the capital of Belgium, but also of Flanders and of Europe itself. Despite being located in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, its language is French; and although its continental multiculturalism is guaranteed by the presence of the European Parliament, the city is teeming with African, Far Eastern and Middle Eastern immigrants who bring the vibe of their own culture and cuisine.

Knowing all this, then, it should be no surprise that Brussels is the birthplace of one of the most famous of the surrealists, painter René Magritte.

Another famous son is Hergé, creator of the comic-strip hero Tintin. George Remi (Hergé’s real name; his pseudonym comes from the French pronunciation of his inverted initials, R.G.) was born in 1907 in a suburb of Brussels. He was just 21 when he created Tintin, who made his debut in 1929 in a children’s newspaper. So successful was the character that Tintin’s adventures soon filled books translated into more than 60 languages.

The books were illustrated in a style that Hergé perfected called ligne claire, or clear line: simple lines of almost uniform thickness, with no shading. His uncluttered, robust technique influenced many cartoonists who followed, including Asterix creators Goscinny and Uderzo and the Smurfs’ Peyo.

Although Tintin never made it big in the United States, both Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein acknowledged Hergé’s influence on Pop Art (Warhol even declared that the Belgian artist “influenced my work as much as Disney”), and his work has inspired none other than Steven Spielberg, who’s producing a trilogy of Tintin films for the big screen, due for release in 2011.

Comic-Strip Culture

Hergé, however, is not an exception. Belgium is home to some 700 native comic-strip authors—more per square kilometer than any other country in the world.

With the opening 20 years ago of the Belgian Comic Strip Centre (20 rue des Sables, Brussels 1000), housed in a striking art nouveau building designed by architect Victor Horta, the simple comic strip was elevated from childish entertain his as it has other artistic styles, from Gothic and Medieval to baroque and surrealist.

Indeed, the once humble comic strip is now as prominent in the city as the 315-foot spire of the city’s town hall, the 13th-century Hotel de Ville. A series of large comic-strip murals dress walls throughout the city and surprise unwitting passers-by with their larger-than-life characters. For visitors armed with a map of the Comic Strip Trail, tracing the route is a good way to discover the city’s lesser-known neighborhoods.

The Royal Quarter of the Upper Town is a magnificent collection of palaces housing some of the finest art in the world, but it’s to the vibrant neighborhoods of the Lower Town that the Comic Strip Trail leads.

Start with the Hergé mural on rue de l’Étuve, in the heart of the Lower Town. A giant Tintin and Captain Haddock clatter down a fire escape while across the road, tourists snap away at the tiny Manneken Pis. The bronze statue, of a boy relieving himself, was first placed here in 1619. A tradition soon started for visiting heads of state to present the Manneken Pis with a miniature version of their national costume. The collection of outfits, now numbering 650 (including an Elvis suit), is housed in the nearby Musée de la Ville (Grand-Place 1).

This area, leading to the Grand-Place and the streets around it, was the civic and commercial hub of the city in the 15th century. The winding cobblestoned streets are pedestrian-friendly and afford a glimpse of the city’s medieval past. The Grand-Place itself is a magnificent cobblestone square whose gilded buildings are adorned with elaborate stonework and arcades.

The Hotel de Ville, with its delicately wrought stone façade, columns and towers, dates from 1459 and is still the finest civic building in the country, filled with 15th-century tapestries and art. The dazzling medieval and baroque façades of the guild houses that line the giant square are a show of Flemish Renaissance architecture unrivaled anywhere in the world.

Look Up!

As a tourist hub, Brussels holds plenty of shops hawking tacky souvenirs (chocolate Manneken Pis, anyone?), but these are the exception. The streets in this area are the best place to find delicate Belgian lace or buy Belgian chocolate—a mouth-watering taste of Belgium’s colonial past as ruler of the cocoa-rich Congo. On the road to the Grand-Place from Manneken Pis, visit Dandoy (14 rue Charles Buls), which has been making fine biscuits and chocolates since 1829. You’ll love its café for lingering over the delicacies.

The streets north of the Grand-Place are a medieval labyrinth. The area has been designated as the Ilot Sacré (sacred islet) to protect its unique character from development. The rue des Bouchers is typical in keeping its medieval name—this road was once home to the city’s butchers. Now its step-gabled houses with their cheerful window boxes are fronted by seafood restaurants, their fresh catch displayed on mounds of ice. Aux Armes de Bruxelles (13 rue des Bouchers), with its art deco interior, is a classic place to enjoy that plate of moules frites.

Picking up the Comic Strip Trail behind the Hotel de Ville, a wealth of murals ushers you down the rue du Marché-au-Charbon into the tiny but lively Quartier Saint-Jacques. True to Brussels’ propensity for neighborhood life, and with more than 20 bars and restaurants here, this is the place to start sampling some of the 400 varieties of Belgian beer as you contemplate the murals that lead through the area.

Schuiten’s “Le Passage,” with its grey columns and shadowy figures, contrasts sharply with the white spire of the Hotel de Ville peeking over the rooftops. Farther on is Frank Pé’s jolly scene of two friends strolling in the sky. And above the tiny rue de Bon Secours, you’ll discover a Tibet and Duchateau mural that makes ingenious use of the building’s drainpipes.

This stretch of the trail delivers you to the wide boulevard Anspach. Turn left and bear southeast to Quartier des Marolles, which for generations has been home to the city’s working class—some residents still speak Bruxellois, the city’s old dialect. The comic-strip murals of Jijé, Verron and Yann point the way to the place de Jeu de Balle, the city’s daily flea market that has been a staple on this square since 1640.

Fashion Forward

Striking west of the boulevard, the Comic Strip Trail leads past a mural by Marc Sleen into St-Géry, the historic center of the city and the point from which all distances to Brussels are measured. A 6th-century chapel to the saint was erected here, but it’s the 19th-century Halles St-Géry (23 Place Saint-Géry, 1000 Brussels) around which the locals congregate. Once the site of a meat market, the building’s elaborate glass and wrought-iron façade now enclose a cultural center with a great café and exhibitions of the city’s history. Bars crowd the sidewalks and lights twinkle in the trees, creating a laid-back atmosphere in which to sip and socialize.

The ambience extends to the rue des Chartreux, where steel sculptures of trees signal a hip blend of modern and retro. Here, bars and cafés jostle for space with vintage clothing boutiques and ultra-modern architectural firms. At the Café Greenwich (7 rue des Chartreux), built in 1916, the interior remains little changed from the time when Magritte visited.

The sweeping rue Antoine Dansaert, which runs parallel to St-Géry, is the hub for homegrown fashion. The distinctive style of Brussel’s fashion designers has captured the imagination of international fashionistas—this is where to wander in search of the next Martin Margiela.

At Stijl (74 rue Antoine Dansaert) you will find the work of graduates of the acclaimed Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Art, including Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester. Annemie Verbeke’s (64 rue Antoine Dansaert) stylish knitwear in her eponymous shop and Nicolas Woit’s (80 rue Antoine Dansaert; nicolaswoit.com) feminine fashions wow visitors with clothing that’s at once functional and outrageously fun.

Next on the trail, a large mural by Dupa, called Cubitus, pays tribute to the Manneken Pis and points the way to rue de Flandre, home to an anonymous white building with huge fashion cachet. It’s the House of Martin Margiela (114 rue de Flandre), the flagship store of the mysterious Belgian designer whose clothes thrill the fashion world each season.

A short walk takes you to the place St. Catherine, where the baroque church of St. Catherine looms over a pleasant square that was once the city’s fish market and is still lined by seafood restaurants. The quai aux Briques, adjacent to the church, is a lively parade of seafood restaurants that recalls evenings spent along the ocean.

Brussels dazzles with classical painting and surrealist puzzles, but it’s a town that doesn’t set out to woo. Rather, it’s a city that entertains itself first and is happy to let intrepid visitors join in the fun—if they can find it. Despite our tendencies to dismiss Pop Art as a cultural blotch, the movement’s meaning usually impacts us in unexpected ways. As I walked the Comic Strip Trail, I found myself continually looking up, focusing … and smiling. This is a gift I won’t soon forget.

Getting There

Daily nonstop flights on United Airlines to Brussels from Washington Dulles International Airport.

Where to Stay

Hotel Le Plaza (118–126 boulevard Adolphe Maxlaan, Brussels 1000)

Fully restored to its former glory by Baron Van Geysel, the hotel features a sandstone and marble lobby and 190 positively regal rooms and suites. There are Belgian chocolates on the pillows, beautiful linens, original mahogany wardrobes, Japanese screens and an enormous domed, frescoed restaurant. Swing your golf club on the rooftop driving range, or work out in the tiny but state-of-the-art fitness room.

Johnny Depp and his wife Vanessa Paradis once took half of the seventh floor when she was filming in Brussels. The hotel includes the Theatre Plaza, a magnificent former cinema in the Spanish-Arab-Moorish style. Even if you aren’t staying at the hotel, you can ask at reception for a private tour. Rates: $150 (based on availability) to $717.

Hotel Métropole (31 place de Brouckère)

More than a century old, this grand dame sits in the center of activity in Brussels. The 298-room, 15-suite hotel manages to straddle its glorious past (you’ll adore the chandelier-lit lobby) while showering guests with modern luxuries, such as Wi-Fi and 24-hour room and laundry service. L’Alban Chambon, its restaurant, is consistently ranked as one of the city’s best. Rates: $129