Brussels Art Nouveau Pass

Follow up question- do you know of an Architecture walking tours guide of Ghent's "millionaire's quarter"?

Brussels: I found the entry fees aligned with the amount of beautiful architecture in the Art Nouveau buildings. I think I saw just about all the pay-to-enter interiors.

• The Hotel Solvay is stunning, It has been booking up 10-14 days ahead of time, so you'll need to make a decision about it fairly soon. You are not supposed to take pictures until the last 10 or 15 minutes of your visit, so keep that in mind, which was annoying since the place isn't tiny and everyone is trying to get the best photos during that short period. I haven't heard about unexpected closures. That would be a serious drag, but you'd easily find substitute things to see in the architecture front.

  • Brussels has a great deal of Art Nouveau architecture, but you can do a lot of walking to find it. The tourist office on Rue Royale (don't know about the others) has a brochure with some locations identified. I used a lot of other sources, too, found via Google. I spent 13 days in a city that would otherwise have needed only about 3. I learned to triple the walking times provided by Google because I spent so much time stopping to take pictures of A.N.-style decorative elements.

• The comic strip museum and the museum of musical instruments both cover their subject matter very well, but neither has a huge amount of A.N. decor inside. Some of it is visible on the way to the ticket counter (hint). I had a lot of time in Brussels, so I went to both those places, but I wouldn't recommend them if you have no special interest in those subjects, since your time is so limited.

Ghent:

• I'm not aware of tours of the millionaires' area. It's not terribly large. It is also not the only area of the city with interesting 19C/20C architecture.

• As you leave the train station and walk east along Pr. Clementinalaan (going toward the millionaires' quarter), you'll pass some good examples of A. N. Nearby Fortlaan is also worth checking out.

• Thanks to a tip from a resident, I spent some time in the interesting residential neighborhood west of the train station. There are some modernist (I think--I'm not an architect) homes along Duifhuisstraat and Sportstraat. I was impressed by the variety. Try to find time to see those two streets, at least.

I haven't gotten to Antwerp or Liege yet, but it seems they also have a lot of A.N. architecture.

Thanks, I will definitely pick up the art Nouveau map.