If you have clients interested in an exciting, guided day in memory of World War I, we highly recommend our wonderful ‘Ypres and Flanders Fields’ tour in Belgium.
From 1914 to 1918, Flanders Fields was a major battle theatre during the First World War. A million soldiers from more than 50 different countries were wounded, missing or killed in action here. Today, the peaceful region still bears witness to this history. The poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, by John McCrae, went on to inspire the use of the poppy, which once grew on the battlefields of Flanders Fields, to become an enduring symbol of remembrance across the world.
The imposing Cloth Hall in Ypres was built in the 13th century and was one of the largest commercial buildings of the Middle Ages. The whole complex was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. The Gothic-style St. Martin’s Cathedral, originally built in 1221, was also completely reconstructed after the war, but now with a higher spire. The Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ypres commemorates those soldiers of the British Commonwealth. Every evening since 1928 at precisely eight o’clock, traffic around the imposing arches of the Menin Gate Memorial has been stopped while the last post is sounded beneath the Gate by the local fire brigade.
The day-tour also includes a visit to the Tyne Cot Cemetery. This Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery is the burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war.
For a full tour description, visit our web site: www.thedutchtraveladvisor.com/tours/tour-examples-belgium/world-war-i-sites