Taste the peace and quiet around the hop town of Poperinge

With this route you explore the area around Poperinge and Ypres. You cycle through the West Flemish Hills, where wooded and rolling hills alternate with drained polders, arable fields and historic towns and buildings. In this region time apparently passes a little less quickly, here peace, nature and tradition, such as brewing beer, reign. A lot of hops are grown here, which gives this region a unique appearance. Poperinge is known as the hop city. In the center you cycle past the Hop Museum, which is located in the city scale complex. Hops used to be weighed, inspected and stacked here. In the museum you will learn everything about the history and life cycle of the hop, thanks to the extensive collection of authentic hop implements. The city center of Poperinge has three large Gothic churches, including the St. John's Church from 1300. Also take a look at the Weeuwhof. These houses, built between 1769 and 1782 around a courtyard, are strongly reminiscent of a beguinage. However, they were intended to provide shelter for single women and widows. The court now has a social residential function. You cycle along a beautiful rural route via Ypres, Zonnebeke and Boezinge back to Poperinge. The deep scars from the First World War are still visible in this landscape in the form of bunkers and cemeteries. Everywhere you come across cemeteries, of the Allies and of German soldiers. The rows of white tombstones still make a stunning impression. Ypres in particular was scarred by the First World War. During that terrible time, Ypres was besieged on three sides by German troops, a front that became infamous as the Ypres Salient, called the Ypres Salient in French. About half a million men died during that period. Ypres remained out of German hands, but the city was completely destroyed. The reconstruction took more than forty years. When you cycle through the Grote Markt, you can be amazed by its medieval appearance. In the Cloth Hall, a UNESCO-protected monument, you will find the In Flanders Fields museum. This permanent exhibition teaches you everything about the Great War. The stories of the people who experienced this war are particularly central, making a visit a compelling experience.