Ypres

There are few places as steeped in such sobering wartime history as Ypres. It stands with the most haunting of memorials to the ravages of conflict in Europe throughout the 20th century, surrounded by the rolling greenery of Flanders Fields; now calm and quiet, once blasted by mortars and carved through by miles of trenches.

You can pay your respects to the fallen at countless monuments throughout the city and its outskirts. The largest is the Menin Gate, gilded with the names of the thousands of British soldiers who perished during the hard-fought battles that took place here between 1914 and 1917. The exhibitions at the In Flanders Field Museum, the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 and the seemingly endless military cemeteries of Tyne Cot, all together chronicle the conflicts, the loss, and the sacrifices made by the Commonwealth in WWI.

Ypres tour guides can also take you to the old medieval core of the town. It's now also a symbol of defiance to the atrocities of war, having been totally rebuilt following complete destruction at the hands of artillery bombardments. Highlights there include the soaring Gothic spire of the Lakenhalle and narrow lanes laced with stepped Flemish frontispieces.