Brussels

Bruxelles. The accidental capital. The city where Magritte painted bowler-hatted businessmen floating through suburban skies – and where real bureaucrats now decide the fate of 450 million Europeans.

It wasn't chosen. It simply became. While grander capitals fought for the honour, Brussels slipped in with office space and waffles. Now it hosts more diplomats than Washington, more lobbyists than Berlin.

But here's Brussels' perfect paradox: the capital of Europe has no grand boulevards or imperial monuments. It's deliberately modest, defiantly local. Between policy summits, corner cafés serve stoemp to regulars discussing football, not fiscal policy.

VoiceMap's self-guided tours decode both Brussels – from the EU Quarter where history unfolds to the flea markets and jazz cafés in the Marolles. Just plug in and discover why this contradiction of a city actually works.