but almost everybody understands and speaks English, and you will hear many more different languages when strolling through the city center.

Brussels is the Headquarters of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. The city also plays host to NATO and more than 120 international governmental organisations and approximately 1,400 non-governmental organisations. With 159 embassies and 2,500 diplomats, Brussels ranks second in the world in terms of diplomatic representations. Thus, the importance of Brussels is not just confined to European affairs. The city has such a wide impact on the world at large that it has become an extremely attractive place for doing business.

The city is also a place of the Erasmus University College Brussels where students from many countries of the world can study via exchange programmes.

With its more than 1000 years of history Brussels offers many fascinating sights to visit. It boasts the most beautiful historic market square and the highest concentration of restaurants in the world. Apart from its famous chocolates and  Belgian beer there are many attractions that most visitors cannot begin to imagine. It is a centre of European culture, officially nicknamed ‘the European Village’, with almost 90 museums, beautiful parks, trendy restaurants and bars.

The most popular attractions in Brussels:

• Atomium (built in 1958) - a replica of an elementary cell of iron crystal lattice enlarged 165 billion times, high 102 metres.  The top sphere has a restaurant and panoramic views reachable by elevator (more in "Our Tips"). 
• Mini-Europe park - the reproductions of the most attractive monuments in the European Union at a scale of 1:25. 350 monuments of 80 cities are represented.
• Grand Place - the central square of Brussels,  surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse. Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula - one of finest examples of Brabant Gothic architecture.
• Royal Palace of Brussels - the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians.
• Flower Carpet on the Grand place 
• Cantillon Brewery
• Horta Museum 
• Chinese pavilion and Japanese Tower in the Laeken suburn of Brussels.
• Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate
• Manneken Pis - a small bronze sculpture of a peeing little boy, designed 1619
• Jeanneke Pis - a small bronze sculpture of a peeing little girl, designed in 1985 
• Zinneke Pis - a bronze sculpture of a peeing dog, designed in 1998
• Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert - designed in 1847, it was the 1st commercial and most elegant shopping gallery in Europe

Other Belgian cities and places that are worth seeing:

• Caves of Han-sur-Lesse - a major Belgian tourist attraction. The caves are the result of the underground erosion of a limestone hill by the river Lesse, located about 110 km out of Brussels.
• Bruges - (Dutch: Brugge) - a lovely city called "The Venice of the North", located about 90 km out of Brussels
• Ghent - a historic city with a port and a university, about 55 km out of Brussels
• Antwerp - located about 44 km out of Brussels, Antwerp has many nicknames. It is called "the Diamond city" as some of the world's finest diamonds are produced here, "the city of Rubens" (a Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens was here) or "the "The Jerusalem of the West" because the big community of the Jews has been living here since 16th century.

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