Ieper aka: Ypres

I went here on a history trip in year 9, and it was honestly one of the most eye opening experiences I’ve had. You learn all about the amount of people who died in the war, but until you go there you never really appreciate it. We visited some of the trenches (which were quite daunting to go in – they were all dark and we couldn’t see anything) and we visited the grave yards – I’ve never seen so many graves together and it really was quite a shocking experience. It was really good though, and I appreciate it all a lot more now.

You should go here if you have interest in the first world war. There are still original trenches and there’s a war museum. You get to visit both British and German cemetries and see the vast comparison, one is very light and beautiful and one is hidden away and shadowy, it’s a very sad trip but you will learn all sorts of facts about the war, such as how horses would get pulled up to the neck in mud in the vast rain. I suggest getting a tour bus from England and crossing the ferry, it is a sad but very wonderful day.

Though you can’t really tell when you first arrive, there was nothing left of Ieper after WWI. It’s said that a rider sitting on his horse could see right through to the other end of the city.

To really grasp what happened at Ieper, first go to the museum in the main square. It has a really good, if somewhat frightening collection of information, artifacts, bits of films etc… Once you understand what happened, visit some of the countless graveyards and memorials. It’s shocking really how many there are littered around the pretty countryside.

Definitely worth a visit.

I went to visit because we studied WWI in history, and its truly a beatiful place, hard to imagine the atrocities the occured there almost 90 years ago

It’s actually called Ieper now…

I visited the war cememtaries with my English class for our war poetry module. It was possibly the most moving experience of my life, the cemetaries are so serene and removed from the rest of the world.