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Explore historic Ypres

16th July 2008

Railbookers is offering travellers with a keen interest in military history the chance to visit the site of some of the bloodiest battles of World War I.

The Flanders World War I Battlefields Tour will take visitors to the Tyne Cot Cemetery at Passchendaele and the Sanctuary Woods trenches, in addition to Essex Farm where the Canadian soldier and doctor John McCrae penned the famous poem In Flanders Fields.

Following the tour, visitors will be able to pay their respects to the war dead at the Menin Gate where the Last Post ceremony will take place.

Contemporary Ypres has designated itself a "city of peace" and maintains close links with the Japanese city of Hiroshima which was devastated by the atomic bomb in World War II.

The city's magnificent cathedral is an exact copy of the 13th century building which was destroyed during the Great War.

Every three years, the Kattenstoet (Cat Parade) takes place in in Ypres, in which toy cats are thrown from a belfry and a parade of cats and witches passes through the streets of the city.

Alex Nott, Railbookers' marketing manager, commented: "This is an excellent overview of the history of Ypres and a fascinating insight into the realities of life for soldiers and civilians during World War I."

Explore history in the city of Ypres.

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