Ypres

Following our time in Bruges, we made our way north to the coast and then south to Ypres (or Ieper in Flemish), the site of some of the most brutal trench warfare in WW1. The entire city was destroyed, so all of the historic buildings that exist there now have been rebuilt as they existed before the war. We went to a very good museum there discussing the WWI experiences of soldiers and civilians in the area. Ypres is also the home to Menin Gate, a sobering monument built at the site where soldiers exited the city to go to the front lines.


The memorial is a huge arch that lists the names of all of the allied soldiers who lost their lives in the war but have no known site of burial - over 50,000 names are listed.












While in Ypres we were lucky to attend the Last Post ceremony, which has taken place almost every night since 1928 (it was interrupted during parts of WWII). The event included singing and the playing fo the last post by buglers, and was attended by over 100 people when we were there.

The city center has been beautifully rebuilt, in some cases (like the giant cloth hall shown below) incorporating parts of the original that weren't destroyed by artillery.