Poseidon – Ice skating rink

Poseidon Brussels

Image by Graaf Barry Von Stielandt

Poseidon – Ice skating rink

Davy Verbeke photo

Davy from Brussels

I came to Brussels to study English literature. I stuck around. I love being in ...

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Somewhere in the Poseidon-building, a billboard for a Belgian radio station says ‘Nostalgia’. That about sums up what this ice skating rink does to me. The faster I skate, the more my chilly childhood sensations come blowing back.

Ice rink Poseidon started in 1966. Belgium’s current king, Filip the First, skated here as a little boy. Today, children and grown-ups impatiently stand along the rink and watch an ice resurfacer machine gently spray hot water on the carved-up ice. A teddy bear is sitting on that machine (passenger, not driver). Pretty neat.

Surface smooth again, skating begins. Parents tow their child as if it’s a broken-down vehicle, experienced speed devils zigzag past Sunday skaters, while clumsily arm-waving windmills try to avoid twirling figure-skaters. Surveillants make sure that no accidents happen. Their authority is enhanced by a cute teddy bear logo on their backs. Some lovely, trashy 90s dance music keeps everyone going. On Fridays, everything turns into a disco. To get the full experience, you must top off your visit with candy and hot cocoa in the cafeteria!

Before I forget: sometimes the roof is opened. Under a starlit sky, you can then skate in Romantic poet (and ice skating lover) William Wordsworth’s tracks, as he carved out in his 1850 poem ‘The Prelude’:

Not seldom from the uproar I retired

Into a silent bay, or sportively

Glanced sideway, leaving the tumultuous throng,

To cut across the image of a star

That gleam’d upon the ice

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Davy from Brussels

Davy Verbeke photo

I came to Brussels to study English literature. I stuck around. I love being in ...

Read all articles

Details about this spot

Categories

Address

Dapperenlaan 4 (Metro 1 - Tomberg), Brussels

Telephone number

+3227621633

Opening Times

From 7 Oct: Mon - 16:30 - 20:00, Tue 16:30 - 22:00, Wed 10:00 - 22:00, Thu 10:00 - 21:00, Fri 10:00 - 18:00, Sat 10:00 - 22:00, Sun 10:00 - 18:30

Price

Entry + rental: € 11

Website

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Last Changed Date: 2016-05-19 11:45:13 +0200 (Thu, 19 May 2016)