Two weekends ago I made my way to the comic book heartland, otherwise known as Belgium, for a little city break with my mum. She has forever been a fan of Tintin (this explains the title of my blog – couldn’t resist!) and so Brussels with it’s comic book museum seemed like the obvious choice! Throw in the fact that the flights from Barcelona were so affordable and you have the perfect destination!

However, the weekend definitely started off in a very stressful manner with me missing my flight. For those of you reading this that know me, you can attest to the fact that I am constantly ten minutes early, never late and obsessed with organisation. So this was a huge deal and not at all I expected I would ever do. I set five alarms to be sure I would get up for my early morning flight and either slept through them or they failed – I was a mess, racing around trying to book another flight and just generally panicking! I was lucky to get another flight but I will never let myself miss a flight again and will most certainly be buying an old school alarm clock as soon as possible – technology isn’t always a good thing! So take a leaf out of my book and do the same!

Now safely on the plane to Brussels I could finally relax and enjoy my mini holiday. Once I had arrived my mum and I went for lunch and had a delicious croque monsieur – just what I needed after a frazzled start to the day! After this we set off to explore the capital, taking in all the beautiful architecture, cute Christmas markets and chic boutiques. The highlight of the first day was by far the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, a stunning Art Nouveau building housing everything from Smurfs exhibits to how comics are created and produced, as well as an amazing gift shop filled with Tintin in every language. I bought myself a great dictionary as told by Tintin’s Captain Haddock, convincing myself it was educational, the Snowy teddy I got not so much!

On the second day we decided to spend the morning in Bruges to make the most of our time in Belgium. It was a lovely picturesque little town with pretty houses all along the winding canals. Going towards the end of November was ideal as I love autumn and the trees were all gold and red, unlike in Barcelona which seems to be a bit slow on the season change. If you’re in Brussels and have half a day to spare, Bruges is definitely worth a visit – if not just for the great food!

Our last day was spent walking through Parc du Cinquantenaire, a peaceful area in the European Quarter. It has loads of museums and a stunning archway as its focal point.

What I’ve seen of Belgium so far has been beautiful and I’ll be back in the future!