Ieper is walled-in with a moat surrounding much of that community of about 18,000 residents. Entering through the west gate, we found city streets meandering in every direction, some of them cobblestone. Our first thought was, “What a nice looking old community.” And it is, but that is only part of the story. The wide-open Grand Market in the city center is indeed grand, surrounded in every direction by beautiful old architecture. The one and one-half-blocks-long, 13th-century stone Gothic Cloth Hall with its 230-foot bell tower and the nearby Cathedral Saint Martin dominate the scene.
Want to know more about this historic place and where it is? Read Jim Sloter's travelogue entry in the Oct. 1 Kossuth County Advance.
