I say any town with three k’s in it’s name has got to be something special (just don’t throw any American History into this bit). Just like in German, you pronounce every letter, which gives you roughly: Ka-no-ka. Knokke is a posh town. In a nut shell, if you aren’t wearing a fur coat, mittens, or hat in the winter, you aren’t a regular visitor here. Serious.

We picked a pretty foggy day to visit Knokke in late December. With the wind and cold temperatures it was difficult to enjoy the normally beautiful scenery. I remember my feet were freezing that day and after 30 minutes of walking, I couldn’t move my toes. Misery.

Besides walking there are plenty of things to do in winter on the shore. In the off-season dogs are allowed to play on the beach. Kids pedal bicycles or four-wheelers on the sidewalk. There are also a few joggers and people fishing on the wave barriers. You could take in the architecture. I loved the thatched roof tops on the buildings. They look like orderly bird nests made of water reeds. The older thatched roofs are especially pretty because green moss grows on them. There is also plenty of art to be seen or money to blow at the casino. Still all these things can’t beat a hot coffee in a cozy, warm restaurant on the beach.

We stopped at a Brasserie called Andorra and ordered three cappuccinos. I secretly wanted to put my toes into the hot mixtures. But on all thoughts, that’s just gross. I noticed that people prefer to speak in French in this town, even though the way they speak French it sounds very obnoxious and harsh. I spoke in German to the waiter and some how that worked alright. We still had a little bit of hunger so we decided to each enjoy a small bowl of soup, or so we thought. Because Knokke is a so affluent, we mistakenly believed a 14 Euro fish soup would be a small appetizer. Instead we each received a deep, enamel crock pot with fresh fish, muscles, crab, shrimp and veggies. My bowl alone was enough to feed a small army. Lucky me, I love soup. It was simply delicious and filling. My toes were warm and toasty from the inside out.

In some ways Knokke remindes me of Harbor Island in Tampa. It is a cute town and a nice place to visit if you have ties there or an eager wallet wanting to be emptied. To see more photos, click here.

Tags: beach, Knokke, Restaurants