Sablon

The Sablon is Brussels' antiques and chocolate quarter — a pair of connected squares (Grand Sablon and Petit Sablon) in the upper town that house the city's finest chocolatiers, its most prestigious antique dealers, and a weekend antiques market that draws collectors from across Europe. The neighbourhood sits between the Royal Museums and the Palais de Justice, and its cobblestone streets, 15th-century church, and upscale restaurants make it the most elegant quarter in the city.

The chocolate on the Grand Sablon is world-class. Pierre Marcolini (possibly the best chocolatier in Belgium, which makes him possibly the best in the world), Wittamer (supplying the royal family since 1910), and Patrick Roger (the French sculptor-chocolatier) all have shops on the square. The Belgian chocolate tradition — centred on the praline, which uses a shell of tempered chocolate around a soft filling — reaches its peak here, and a tasting tour of the Sablon's chocolate shops is one of Brussels' most enjoyable and calorie-dense activities.

The Petit Sablon, a smaller garden square connected to the Grand Sablon, is surrounded by a wrought-iron fence with 48 bronze statuettes representing Brussels' medieval guilds — each figure holding the tools of their trade — and a central statue group celebrating the Counts Egmont and Horn, who were beheaded in the Grand-Place in 1568 for opposing Spanish rule. The Church of Notre-Dame du Sablon, a 15th-century Gothic structure with extraordinary stained glass, anchors the square and hosts free organ concerts that fill the nave with sound.