Ypres, Belgium

After several years of spending holidays and vacations with my parents in Brussels, I feel like I have had a good run of the city. It's beautiful and the beer is good but when our friends suggested heading out of town, we both jumped at the opportunity! Enticed by the sounds of an exclusive Trappist beer monastery and World War I history, we hopped in a friend's car and headed to Flanders.


We landed Ypres, an ancient town with history dating back to the first century B.C. when it was invaded by the Romans. Ypres has had a number of unwelcome visitors over the years, most notably the Germans during WWI. In the first battle of Ypres, the Allied forces took back the town but during the second battle, the Germans used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front. However, it was the third battle of Ypres (or the Battle of Passchendaele) that reserved a place in history for this town. Fought from late July to early November 1917, the battle cost tens of thousands of Canadian, British, French, Australian, Kiwi, and even Pakistani and Sikh lives. The city was devastated and most of the original buildings, including the great Cloth Hall (pictured above), were rebuilt after the war with German reparation money.


A large arch in the center of town, the Menin Gate Memorial, commemorates the lives of British Commonwealth soldiers lost. Engraved in all of the walls are the names of the deceased whose bodies were never recovered.


Poppies, both real and paper, wreath and single flowers, are placed near the names to pay tribute. The significance of this flower comes from the poem "In Flanders Field" written by Lt. Col. John McCrae in 1915. He wrote the poem after the loss of a friend in the battlefields of Flanders. The Canadian doctor and soldier's poem ends with the line

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

While out in the country, we visited the Essex Farm Military Cemetery. During WWI, this area was used as a field dressing station and eventual grave site. There are 1,199 grave sites at this location, most of them with touches of poppies left by visitors.


Between the cemetery and the town of Ypres is the St. Sixtus Trappist Abbey. Adjacent is the Westvleteren Brewery, run by the Abbey's monks. The brewery was founded in 1893 and only produced three types of beers. These beers are not produced commercially and are only available for sale on the grounds of the abbey. Unfortunately, our visit fell on a Sunday and while I didn't think that Blue Laws existed in Europe, we probably shouldn't have been surprised to find out that we couldn't take any of the famous beers home. Instead, we relaxed with 10.2% beers and a local cheese inside the brewery's bar. Savoring my Westvleteren 12, I enjoyed the rich taste of the beer - the only Trappist beer still produced by monks (they only employ three secular employees for this production!)


As the sun started to set, we began our drive back to Brussels. Though robbed of the beautiful scenery by the darkness, I was able to settle back into my seat to reflect on all the amazing things I saw earlier.