Ypres, Belgium Travel Blogs

Visiting the past
Jul 11, 2006 (17 photos)

... nicked them after the war and took them back to Australia. They put them outside the War Memorial in Canberra and in 1936, Belgium very graciously, decided to allow us to keep them. The gate was built in 1927 to commemorate all those who had died but did ...

In Flanders Fields
Jun 16, 2007 (49 photos)

... times, hence its heavy fortification. But this time around, there was nothing that could be done against German shelling.  Belgium had sustained her neutrality during the war, but the unjust German invasion of her lands was what brought the British ...

The Flanders
Jun 17, 2007 (91 photos)

... uncovered. A nice touch are the two German headstones in the centre. They arrived as enemies, left as friends. Lunch When in Belgium, two comments are true. It rains alot and there is always a smell of cow shit (except at Tyne Cot, because of the ...

Beers with Jono.
Nov 3, 1998

... . We had to leave before 8pm. Pity, as they close the rode every night and play the last post. We had one more night, in Belgium, then we jumped on a ferry and made our way back to England. We had been on the road for four months 2 days. It was quite ...

Menin Gates
Jun 30, 2008 (2 photos)

... to comprehend. At the back of the memorial is a brass plaque which describes the Aussie soldier in battle and the bonds with Belgium that were forged in war. We are so glad we finally made it there, we both have such strong reactions to the painting ...

entry to europe and war memorials
Apr 14, 2008 (15 photos)

... of Dover (I am sure there is a song about it). Once on the main land we headed to our first stop being Ypres in the south of Belgium.  After having made it into our third country for the day we were feeling pretty good....then we had to find ...

Learnings on the bike
Aug 11, 2006 (3 photos)

... visited the war museum and the beach, I was fairly happy to get back on the bike the next morning. 2 stars. Day 3 to Ypres (aka Ieper). I only realised on day 3 that the place I'd been telling everyone that was Leper, was actually spelt with a capital ...

Menin Gate - Ypres I've finally seen it.........
Jul 12, 2008

... . He comes to Ypres every few years to honour his mates who all died. Wonderful shopping here with the main purchase Belgium chocolates and lace. Unfortunately the former wouldn't last a trip back to Auss so sorry folks you'll have to continue to ...

The Menin Gate and the Ypres Area
Jul 21, 2009 (6 photos)

The Menin Gate is a monument in Ypres, Belgium. It bears the names of more than 55,000 soldiers of the Commonwealth who lost their lives in the Ypres area during WW1. These are the names of soldiers who have no known resting place. This monument is very ...

Flanders Fields
Dec 15, 2006 (3 photos)

Novotel Hotel Ypres - 77 euros per night - booked over the web - no breakfast (cheaper to go to the boulangerie across the road) - clean - own bathroom - courteous staff - part of the Accor chain - great location, just off the main square

Notre Dame de Lorette and Vimy Ridge
Jul 19, 2009 (9 photos)

The first stop of the day was at a cemetery for the French. It is without a doubt the largest cemetery I have ever seen. In the centre of it is a large church (Basilica?) called Notre Dame de Lorette. I believe there are 22,000 French soldiers buried here ...

Dunkirk to Ypers Belgium
Jun 30, 2009 (45 photos)

... their lives in May June of 1940. Country number 22, Belgian! We are now heading off to the town of Ieper, Ypres or Leper in Belgium, all spelt these various ways depending on which map or piece of information you are using.  The town has amazing ...

Passendale and Ypres (Leper)
May 14, 2007

See previous entry.

In Flanders Field Museum
Sep 29, 2009 (8 photos)

... knew bits and pieces of it.  The story goes that in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres a Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2 May, 1915 by a German artillery shell. He was a ...

When The War Is Over
Sep 30, 2008 (7 photos)

... is our last in Belgium as tomorrow we head back into France for the remainder of our trip. I have really enjoyed Belgium, especially the quaint little towns we have discovered. My previous experience of Belgium had been a short visit to Brussels with a ...

In Flanders Fields
Oct 13, 2007 (25 photos)

... was a giant mass grave where, since the Belgians were unwilling to give any land to the German aggressors to bury their dead in Belgium, the remains of 25, 000 German men lie buried in a single pit. The sheer scale and slaughter of the carnage that took ...

Ypres, Belgium
Jun 14, 2008 (6 photos)

From Amiens, France we travelled to Ypres, Belgium to visit the area where Henry's mom's parents were from. In Belgium it is spelled Ieper and pronounced E-purr (remember to roll your r's). Unfortunately, we could not locate any of the relatives so we ...

Ypres
May 18, 2007

Ypres

War Tour Part II
Sep 4, 2006 (20 photos)

This road trip turned out to be quite a lesson in war history. Figured since we were almost there as it was, we had better check out Flanders while we had the chance. Definitely haven't seen so many graves in my life. We bought a map of the war sights in ...

ypres
Jul 23, 2007

the main battlefront in Belgium during the Great War

Ypres
Jun 9, 2008

... the super driver. We didn't trust Tom Tom Go initially but it had proved its worth since.  We eventually got to Ypres in Belgium within an hour or so.  Unfortunately the rain was bucketing down so we couldn't set up our tent.  The weather ...

school trip from way back in the day
Oct 13, 2007

school trip from way back in the day

Sunday 26th April
Apr 25, 2009 (9 photos)

... soldiers left Ypres to travel down Menin road to the Western Front, many to never return. Also had to tuck into a Belgium Waffle *drool* with Ferrero Roche Ice Cream. Quick little visit to Leonidas - Yummy Belgian chocolates who had an amazing selling ...

"Cemetery Route"
Aug 4, 2008

... route using the number posts. Route turned out to be on very narrow lanes but there were lots of cyclist about. From Ypres decided to follow the " Cemetery route ", which runs for 47K around Ypres. Stopped at a bar near the Passiondale ...

Ypres
Aug 16, 2006

We had been learning about Ypres during our history classes, and last year we went **last time ever at HTC** yeah, it was alright. There's lots of graves from the destruction WW1 caused which is :(

Ypres
Mar 27, 2009

Travelled to Ypres to-day and visited a number of museums, memorials and historical sites including Paschendaels.  Wx was a bit better. To-morrow we start the long trek home

Sites from the Great War
Aug 29, 2009 (4 photos)

Our first day in Belgium was to be a day of side trips.  Our first stop was the town of Ypres.  Ypres was hit particularly hard in WWI and is the home of a very good museum -- In Flanders Fields.  It is a typical museum, with visual displays ...

Polygon Wood,Tyne Cot and Menin Gate
Apr 24, 2009

... CO were both killed from the same bullet - the origin of which is not known.   The high ground was also a former Belgium Shooting Range.    We did lunch here in a Café aptly named 'Hill 60' - we had toasties mainly and Malani and I ...

Belgium
May 6, 1994

School trip

Emotional day in Ypres
Jul 27, 2009 (3 photos)

Today the band parents followed the band on a 3-hour drive to Ypres in Flanders, Belgium where they played at the War Memorial and sang ín the cathedral. Wow, what an emotional day. We went to the John MacRae cemetary (he was a Canadian field ...