Between the hours of 9am and 7pm, for one Sunday, each September, cars are banished from within the Brussels Outer Ring Road. All of the buses, trams and metro are free. The only cars allowed are those belonging to the Emergency Services and taxis. A number of events are staged around the city. Including the laying of turf and trees in large pots, on Place Royale in front of the Palace for a large picnic and farmers market and eco exhibition.
This weekend is one of the best to visit Brussels, especially if you wish to hire one of the city’s bicycles from the Villo! Bike share scheme as you will be a lot safer on the road.

I posted this video on YouTube. It gives a some idea of what the day is like.

But then found this video from the 2009 event, of longboarders enjoying a car free Avenue Tervuren, I really enjoyed watching it.

Usually, there are also some Braderies on the streets, where locals (and some traders) spread out anything they want to sell on the street.

Other Car Free Days are staged in cities as diverse as Amsterdam and Bogota. There is campaign to try to get a Car Free Day for London. What is the situation in your city or country?

Currently, I am spending a lot of time in Brussels. You could say I am on permanent vacation here. You do not need to travel far to gain a rewarding travel experience. To illustrate my point, this last weekend, there was two Street parties within 200 metres of my apartment in Brussels.

The first was the Czech Street Party held in the street by the Czech Embassy. This took place on Friday night. The street was closed off and a stage erected, along with a number of tents highlighting what the Czech Republic has to offer. There were samples of Czech beers, wines, cheeses, sweets, and goodies given away at the stands representing the various regions. Of course there were brochures and help available for potential visitors to the Czech Republic.  I really enjoyed the Czech Music although the young Mandrage and Clou were more to my taste than Mig 21 and the headline act Kristophe. Czech nationals made up the largest contingent of the crowd which completely filled the street up to the front of the stage by the time the headline group was playing.

This is a video clip of Clou, a band from Prague in action.

The second Street Party was Matongé en Couluer. This took place on Saturday and Sunday on Chausée de Wavre and parts of rue de la Paix and even the junction of Chausée de Wavre and Chausée d’Ixelles. Like the czech Party, this is an annual event with stands selling African Foods and goods, filling the streets. Again a music stage showcased African music and dance from across the African continent as well as from Brussels. In addition small bands were playing at other locations on the streets as well as a few DJ sets providing music for street dancing. In common with the Czech Party there was no entry fee for any of the events. An excellent opportunity to immerse myself in the sounds, colours, smells and tastes of different cultures without going more than 800 metres from my front door.

I went out this afternoon to make an instructional video on using the Brussels Metro system. Unfortunately I forgot my STIB ticket so had to go and film something else. I decided to look at the Cyclocity bicycle hire scheme that I covered in an earlier post. I was shocked to find that the bicycles, docking stations and pay stations had been removed. All that was left were the Maps of the scheme.

A search of the internet reveals that they are to be replaced by a bigger scheme called “Villo!” that will kick off in May this year. Cyclocity only covered the Brussels Pentagone ( the area within the inner ring road, named due to its shape). The new scheme will cover much more of the city.

When I remember my STIB ticket and the new scheme is in place, I will attempt to remake the film. That is of course if I remember the video camera!