Brussels THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The budget traveller may be lucky enough to find a free bed in some parts of town; Tintin and Captain Haddock make their presence felt on Rue de l’Étuve; the central square in Brussels known as Grand Place is one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations; don’t leave Brussels without treating yourself to a traditional thick, crispy waffle topped with cream chasing and fruit. TinTin Tintin was a lucky chap. He travelled the world while his bills magically paid themselves. Adventures landed in his lap. His dog was superbly house-trained. He flew to the moon. And the evergreen Belgian could call edgy, underrated Brussels his hometown. By Richard Asher. iStockphoto.com es, Brussels is actually a great Mussels. The Smurfs. Cherry beer. The His long career came to an end in First, a little history place. Some may like to knock world’s greatest slap chips. And Tintin. 1983, having begun all the way back Tintin began as a weekly children’s serial it, along with the rest of Bel- Such a bad place? Really? in 1929. While Brussels is hardly made in Le Vingtième Siècle, a Brussels news- Ygium, but they forget what a Okay, so maybe it’s true that Belgium’s explicit as his hometown in the books, paper. The very first adventure, ‘Tintin diverse, undiscovered, yet oddly familiar, top celebrity is a comic-book character. there’s no doubting that the quiffed one in the Land of the Soviets’, began on 10 place it is. As in South Africa, you can After all, this is a country that doesn’t was a patriotic citizen of the Belgian January 1929 and sees the young reporter cross a town only to find they’re speaking even need a president: it recently func- capital. His creator, Hergé (real name head to Russia to find out all about the another language. And it could well be tioned without a government for well Georges Remi), was a born and bred, Bolshevik baddies. It’s black-and-white, Flemish, Afrikaans’ closest living rela- over a year because they couldn’t agree on French-speaking Bruxellois. As was slapstick, unrecognisably haphazard and tive. Furthermore, there’s no evidence forming a coalition. We can’t help think- Tintin. The volumes are littered with still something of a collector’s item, but it’s to suggest that Brussels sprouts really ing Tintin would have banged their heads city landmarks anybody can visit, comic definitely Tintin. And Hergé’s readers (not came from Brussels. Instead, think beer. together, were he still around. book in hand. For a Tintin fan, Brussels just kids, then as now) really took to the Chocolate. Waffles. Raspberry beer. Sadly, Tintin has long since retired. is the pilgrimage. All illustrations courtesy © Hergé-Moulinsart 2012 young man with the little white Scottie. So iStockphoto.com 48 Getaway International Brussels Step outside, look up and to your right, and there he is again, gazing much so, that a vast crowd gathered when out from the top of the Le Lombard the newspaper (and a Tintinesque actor) offices on Avenue Paul-Henri staged the hero’s ‘return’ from the USSR to coincide with the end of the serial. Spaak, where Tintin magazine Several adventures later, the Nazis rolled was once published into Brussels, and Hergé was forced to move Tintin – still a weekly serial – into the German-controlled Le Soir newspaper. After Belgium’s liberation, Tintin moved to his own magazine as Hergé began to work more with the final book products in mind. By the 1960s, with the early books having been coloured and translated into many languages, Hergé began to tire of the demands of Tintin. His production rate slowed, and only three completed books emerged after the 1960 classic Tintin in Watch The Secret of Tibet. When Hergé died in 1983, he was the Unicorn working (at glacial speed) on Tintin and Tintin movies invariably divide opin- Alph-Art, a series of draft sketches around ion. For many, the idea of bringing an art thievery plot. We’ll never know how a comic-strip character to life on that adventure would have panned out, but screen doesn’t sit well. So Steven there’s a certain charm in that. Spielberg had a challenge on his ABOVE: Tintin and Snowy look down on the streets of Brussels from atop the Le Lombard offices. hands when he made The Secret BELOW LEFT: City restaurants spill onto sidewalks and pavements bustle with pedestrians. of the Unicorn. The unofficial the house in which Hergé was born, and It wasn’t a complete disaster. Tintin heritage trail survived a childhood said to have been (the Belgian Comic Strip Centre) on Rue market so special is that it seems to have The graphic geeks were reasonably When embarking on your Tintin trek ‘unbelievably dull’. The address you want des Sables. This city-centre museum is changed little since Hergé drew it in the faithful to the characters’ appear- through Brussels, allow at least three days, is 33 Rue Philippe Baucq, Etterbeek, where iStockphoto.com unmissable for comic-book junkies, but 1940s. The vendor demographic may have ances, and the voices aren’t as as the sites are scattered over a large area. there’s a plaque on the wall to ‘Tintin’s isn’t exclusively devoted to Tintin. Same evolved, but the bric-a-brac on sale (think cringe-worthy as they might be – at If you have more time, so much the spiritual father’. Situated in the heart of goes for the quirkier Museum of Original headless dummies, old gramophones and least they don’t speak with Ameri- better. The city’s non-Tintin delights old-school suburbia in the city’s southeast, Figurines on Boulevard Auguste Reyers. If amusing African masks) is straight from can accents. Although Spielberg need attention too, and you’ll pass you’ll find it next to the funeral parlour. you want a devoted Tintin museum, there the pages of Tintin. Ditto some of the shop- did meddle with the plot by splicing most of them on your way around. Moving from the birth of Hergé to the is the modernistic Musée Hergé, founded pers showing off equally dated wardrobes. together elements of two separate If you’re arriving by rail from birth of Tintin, you might want to cross by Hergé’s widow Fanny. This is well out of Dating back to 1873, the place seems lost books, it’s still entertaining. Paris or London, you’re likely town towards Gare de Bruxelles-Nord. Or, town at Louvain-la-Neuve, however, which in time. Remember your camera, and your But the film’s over-the-top, unreal- to pull into town at the Gare to be precise, to the nearby Place Rogier, takes an hour on the train. If you want to copy of The Secret of the Unicorn. istic antics drew vitriol. Tintin books du Midi. Straight away, Tin- where the original station building stood make hiring a car for a day worthwhile, you Nearby is another essential pilgrimage, were rooted in a reality that went tin makes his presence felt. until 1955. The very first scene from the could dovetail it with a trip to nearby Wa- Rue Terre-Neuve. It has been speculated beyond Hergé’s accurate depictions There’s a mural – a scene very first book is set here, as Tintin boards terloo. Bear in mind that all the museums that this is the inspiration for the fictional of Brussels. Tintin may have enjoyed from Tintin in America – a train headed for Moscow. He promises are closed on Mondays. Labrador Road, where Tintin resided at a greater share of fortune and ad- just inside one of the en- his editor (this is the only book in which But if you find museums stuffy, you number 26. Take a look, and judge for venture than most of us, but nothing trances. Step outside, look up he really appears to be a working reporter) light district next to the existing Gare de could easily give them a skip. You’re yourself. Also within walking distance that happened to him was physically and to your right, and there that he’ll send vodka and caviar, before Bruxelles-Nord. Like we said, Brussels has here to follow in the real-life footsteps of is the busy, fashionable Avenue Louise, improbable or outlandish. Not so for he is again, gazing out from the falling asleep in his compartment. its gritty side. Tintin, after all. For that, there’s no better home to Hergé’s former studios at number Spielberg, who allowed the compu- top of Le Lombard on Avenue The Place Rogier is also where the staged Now that you’ve paid homage to the ori- place than the Place du Jeu de Balle in the 162, where the Hergé Foundation is now ter show-offs to run amok creating Paul-Henri Spaak, where homecoming took place to wild acclaim gins of Tintin and his creator, the sequence Marolles district. This is the unmistakable housed. Avenue Louise is also recognis- chase scenes featuring buildings Tintin magazine was once more than a year after that first episode. doesn’t matter all that much. But there inspiration for the opening scenes of The able in various frames from Tintin’s ‘home’ that move. published. It looks a lot different now, though, so are relevant museums, which you may Secret of the Unicorn – both the original adventures. Avenue de la Toison d’Or, The film hit SA cinemas in Decem- But the logical place you’ll need some imagination.