Lots of capitals – or cities in general – are associated with rivers. London has got the Thames, Paris the Seine and Brussels the Senne. Unfortunately, most of the Senne runs underground, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t make any boat tours in Brussels. The Canal de la Senne runs through part of the Belgian capital and is a good starting point for short and long boat trips.
Have a look at these two websites: Brussels by Water and Rivertours. Lars and I chose one of the longer trips: Brussels – Molenbeek – Anderlecht – Drogenbos. We regularly pass in Molenbeek and Anderlecht and we were curious to see these places from a different point of view.
Yesterday around 9.45 am, we arrived at the av. du Port 6. A very friendly guide, André, welcomed us and explained that the trip would be in Dutch and French, but he assured Lars that he would answer all his questions in English.
Did you know that there is a Waterbus, which connects Brussels with Vilvoorde? Check out their website!
Around 10 am we left. First up, the municipality of Molenbeek, which has the reputation of being the favorite hiding place for Jihadists. There are parts that indeed do look grim, but the colourful small mills, the modern lofts and the MIMA (museum of visual arts) are huge improvements.
An exciting part of this boat tour are the two locks. This is the one in Molenbeek; in 6,5 minutes you rise 3,5 minutes!
And we continued our journey through Molenbeek. This was a part of town that we didn’t know. By the way, at some point, the Canal de la Senne becomes the Canal Brussels – Charleroi.
Houses make way for trees. We saw a whole collection of big and small houseboats, some of which looked quite cosy.
Time for another lock; this is the one of Anderlecht.
Anderlecht is known for its 2 education centers: CERIA (French) and COOVI (Dutch). We saw more houseboats, one of them with its own pooch.
The sun came out, making this boat tour even more agreeable.
Apparently, it is possible to make a boat trip from Amsterdam to Paris in 4 -5 days! If only we had our own boat…
Once you reach Drogenbos, the boat turns around and you go back the same way. Time to head to the bar/restaurant. The drinks and snacks are quite cheap.
During our return, I took pictures of colourful details and people.
The boat trip lasted three and a half hours and costs €10,- per person. If you want to see a completely different Brussels, this is the thing to do!