Grand-Place

The Grand-Place is the most beautiful square in Europe — Victor Hugo called it so, UNESCO agrees, and standing in the centre of this enclosed rectangle of gilded Baroque guild houses, with the Gothic town hall's 96-metre spire rising above and the entire ensemble lit gold by the evening sun, it's hard to argue with either of them. The square has been the heart of Brussels since the medieval period, serving as marketplace, execution ground, political stage, and the daily gathering place for a city that has always preferred its public life outdoors.

The guild houses that line the square — each named, each decorated with gilded statuary, each trying to outdo its neighbours in ornamental excess — were rebuilt after a French bombardment destroyed the square in 1695. The guilds (bakers, brewers, tailors, boatmen) reconstructed their headquarters in a competitive Baroque that turned commercial rivalry into architectural art. The Maison du Roi (King's House, which never housed a king) faces the town hall and now contains the Museum of the City of Brussels, whose most popular exhibit is the hundreds of miniature costumes made for the Manneken Pis.

Every two years in August, the Grand-Place is carpeted with a million begonias arranged in a geometric pattern that covers the entire square — a tradition since 1971 that draws half a million visitors over a single weekend. The biennial flower carpet is arguably the most Instagram-worthy event in Belgium, and the fact that it uses begonias (Belgium is one of the world's largest begonia exporters) turns a decorative tradition into an advertisement for national horticulture.