Our Big Fat Greek Honeymoon: Greece Travel Tips

Well, the surprise honeymoon is in the books! I think we pretty much accomplished everyone knowing where we were going except Kristal. I don’t usually research too much before traveling to a location because I find that 5 hours of research can be accomplished in a 5 minute conversation with a local upon arrival. This trip was different. I wanted it to be perfect so I did my best to become an “expert” on each leg of our trip. We flew into Athens and then took ferries to Mykonos, Naxos, and Santorini.  Instead of giving a play by play of what we did, I am going to give some travel notes for the trip from start to finish. Hopefully this will be useful for any of you planning to go to Greece in the near future, because we definitely recommend it!

General Information

Ferries: We found that ferries were the best way to island hop around Greece. They were incredibly efficient, comfortable, and well prices. We booked using both http://ferries-booking.com/ and http://www.greekferries.gr/

Itinerary: The hardest things to decide are where to go and how much time to spend! We decided to do three islands in ten days. We were pretty happy with our choice and how much time we had at each, although you always want more. Here was our route:

July 24: Doha to Athens

July 25: Athens

July 26: Athens to Mykonos

July 27: Mykonos

July 28: Myknos to Naxos

July 29: Naxos

July 30: Naxos to Santorini

July 31-August 1: Santorini

August 2: Santorini to Athens to Doha

Athens

Our gateway into Greece and the Greek islands was through Athens. Many people had warned us that Athens would be disappointing and not offer much to see. We actually found it to be really enjoyable and are glad we spent a full day there. Here were some of our favorite highlights:

Activity: Free Walking Tour (http://www.athensfreewalkingtour.com)

Accommodation: Plaka is the central area within walking distance of many of the sites. We stayed at the Home Sweet Hotel (http://thesweethomehotel.com/) and would recommend it.

Acropolis View: Thissio View Roof Garden is only a short walk from the Acropolis and has a great bar/restaurant with views of the site.

Food: Thanasis in Monastiraki Square had a great menu for kebabs and souvlaki for great prices and portions.

Mykonos

About a four hour ferry ride from Athens brought us to the island of Mykonos. Mykonos had the best beaches we saw the whole trip but the island came with a high price tag and some big crowds. Here are some of our highlights and tips:

Activity: Make sure to rent a scooter or Quad bike. There are so many places and great beaches to explore on the island, all about 20 minutes away from each other.

Beaches: Nearly all of the beaches on the south of the island and very developed with restaurant, bars, and chair rentals. If you are looking to get away from the crowds and more untouched beaches head up north. Our favorite north beach was Agios Sostis Beach and we wish we had explored more up there! Our favorite south beach was Elia.

Food: If you are looking for the best sunset view in all of Mykonos, check out Katerina’s in Little Venice (http://katerinaslittlevenicemykonos.com/en/). If you make a dinner reservation you can sit over the water with the sunset to your right and windmills on the left. You can also just go for drinks and have a view from upstairs.

Nightlife: Mykonos is famous for nightlight and Paradise Beach is the place to find it. DJs play there all summer and we got to see Robin Schulz at Cavo Paradiso. Keep in mind the headline DJs don’t go on until 3 or 4am so it makes for a late night!

Naxos

Naxos was an add on for our trip as we originally planned to only see Mykonos and Santorini, but we are SO glad we did! We only stayed around Naxos town and the nearby St. George’s Beach but it was a perfect beach holiday. If we were to go back we would explore the rest of the island more but here are our highlights:

Activity: Walking. Once you arrive at port all of Naxos Town and the nearby beaches are about a 10 minute walk. For the two days we were there we didn’t take any  transportation and it was lovely!

Sites: Make sure to check out the views at the Arch of Apollo (you can see it from the harbor) and there is a great café at the top of the castle with views of the city.

Accommodation: In Mykonos and Santorini beachfront hotels can be quite expensive. In Naxos they are very reasonable and we stayed at the Ippokampos Hotel with a door facing the ocean (http://www.ippokampos-naxos.com/en/)! It was amazing and had a great beach and restaurant on property.

Food: Some of our best meals were in Naxos! Looking for seafood? Try Meze2 right on the main street of Naxos Town. We had the stuffed squid and it was amazing! Looking for a Taverna? Try Taverna Apostolis in the Old Market where the entire menu is amazing but reservations are recommended. Looking for a souvlaki fill? YaSouvlaki has takeaway the size of a shoe box for less than 10 Euros! It was amazing and always packed.

Santorini

Widely considered to be one of the most romantic places on earth, and for good reason! There was so much to see and explore there and we could have spent our whole vacation just there. Santorini can have some big crowds and high prices so we tried to avoid both of those and still had an amazing time! Here are the highlights:

Accommodation: I did a lot of research on where to stay and we ended up choosing to stay in Imerovigli on the non-caldera side. It was away from the action but we were able to get a honeymoon suite in a cave for a quarter of the price we would have paid to be on the caldera side in Oia or even Imerovigli. Here is a link to where we stayed http://www.aghiosartemios.gr/

Activity: There are so many to list! We rented Quad bikes and explore the island on our own rather than doing a tour. Here is the run down of the top places to see/things to do! Free Walking Tour in Fira (http://santo-line.com/freetour/) , Santo Wines for wine tasting, Megalochori traditional village, Akrotiri archeological site, Red Beach, Vlychada White Beach, Perissa Beach, Prophet Elias Monastery (highest point in Santorini), and Kamari Beach. We also did a semi-private sunset sailing tour our last day which was pricey but worth it with http://www.santorinisailing.com/

Beaches: Santorini has some amazing beaches, all of which are black sand. For the most interesting go to Red Beach. We thought the best overall beach was in Perissa or Kamari. See as many as you can!

Sunset View: “The best sunset in the world”-They. After much research we booked a table at Kastro in Oia for the sunset (http://kastro-oia.gr/en/). It is right in front of the castle which is one of the most popular places to see the sunset. It had a completely clear view of the sunset but no caldera. It really is a trade off! If you want the classic blue dome/caldera shot you need to go down an alley off the main street next to a high end clothing/accessory shop with a black sign. It sounds sketchy, but it’s not and you get the best photos! We got the best photo locations from here http://theplanetd.com/photography-guide-santorini/

 

In the end Greece was a perfect honeymoon destination for us. It offered endless possibilities, history, adventure, gorgeous images, and of course great food! At first I was intimidated at the idea of “Greek Island Hopping” thinking it would be too costly or difficult logistically. It was neither of those and we hope you get the chance to explore it soon! We didn’t get the chance to explore anywhere else in Greece but we aren’t planning for this to be our last trip there!!! If you haven't seen the highlight video yet you can see that here too:

We would also like to announce that as our time in Doha comes to a close we will be launching a new blog (gosh did I learn a lot from keeping this one!) in the coming months. The blog will be called “At Our Witt’s End” and it will be a bit of travel advice, a bit of logging our adventures, and really our own version of keeping up with the Sawittzkes! Stay tuned for updates!

Getting to the Wedding

The last 8 weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, hence not getting to the blog at all. There was the first meeting of the parents in Minnesota, time at UT-Austin helping to run their LeaderShape session, a 13 hour overnight road trip to Nashville for the bachelor party, a trip to Virginia for Bree and Shea's wedding, the return to Doha after my contract was extended, wedding planning, flying back to the US for Kevin and Katie's wedding in Michigan, the 4th of July weekend, and finally actually getting married on July 9th!!! I could write at length about each of these events individually but instead I am going to focus specifically on the wedding.

It will sound cliche, but our wedding day was perfect in every way. It was perfect weather, it was perfect in its imperfections (read: Evan not watching part of Kristal's walk down the aisle), but most
of all it was perfectly us. There was a boat entry to the processional, the ceremony was officiated by close friends, there were lawn games at the reception, the band rocked until almost 1am, the list goes on. To me, the best wedding is one that reflects the couple it is celebrating and in many ways, I feel like that is what we had. I won't go into a string of advice for wedding planners or my lessons learned. I simply want to offer a few things that have been on my mind in the week or so since the wedding.

The dominant feeling this last week has been thankfulness. We are so fortunate to have been able to celebrate with so many family and friends from near and far. It was such an honor to see so many individuals travel to join us in Crosslake and equally as meaningful to receive all the well wishes from people who could not attend. We had so much help in making the wedding happen, and it made it a stress free weekend for Kristal and me. I won't name everyone who was involved but our I Do Crew, Kristal's attendants, our officiants, parents and siblings, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Dawn, Pat & Josie, the Christensen family, the Witts, and so many others went above and beyond in helping create such an amazing weekend. Thank you does not begin to do it all justice.

In the week after the wedding we find ourselves trying to re-live every moment through stories, pictures, and videos. We have started to share some previews from the incredibly talented team we got to work with. Photos can be found at http://hanasouther.zenfolio.com/p473607168 (code: crosslake). A preview of our wedding video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc0Z94WS6y8. We cannot wait to see our final products but this will have to hold us over for now!

On Saturday, Kristal and I made it back to Doha as Mr. and Mrs we literally wore matching t-shirts). Just because the wedding is behind us, doesn't mean there aren't some big things on the horizon. Next week we will be heading on our honeymoon (secret location for Kristal) before coming back to Doha to prepare for the upcoming semester. The plan for the Fall as of now is to wrap up our current jobs and move to New Zealand for about two months to work with the International Volunteer Headquarters (https://www.volunteerhq.org/). As our time in Doha comes to a close I will be shutting down this blog which has served me well for nearly four years! Stay tuned for the honeymoon, life updates, and closing thoughts on my time in Qatar. Thanks for reading!

Final Days with HBKU

After many months of confusion and uncertainty I was notified last week that my last week of work with the Qatar Foundation and Hamad bin Khalifa University would be at the end of May. While this comes as a bit of a surprise, and earlier than I had hoped, I think it is for the best in the long term. It has been an amazing journey working with QF and HBKU these past four years and as the organization moves in a new direction I was no longer a part of that picture. As with any story, there is much more to this one. I am happy to share with people individually over time as I try to wrap my own head around the last few weeks.

For now our plan is to stay in Qatar until Kristal’s contract ends in October. In the meantime we will be wedding planning; I will be seeking short term employment in Doha, and making the most of our last few months in Qatar. I want to specifically thank Curt Kenoyer who first hired me to come to Qatar, my supervisor Melissa Winter, all of my amazing colleagues, the Education City community, and the great students I have had the privilege of working with. These won’t be my last words about my experience so stay tuned for more posts in the coming months.

Sawittzke Tours: Qatar

Kristal and I have been very fortunate to have a revolving door of visitors these past few months. First there was Rebecca and Lucas from Germany/Switzerland, then there was Jen and Kyle on their way to Bali, then there was Ben and Yve from London, and finally this past weekend we hosted Kristal’s brother and sister traveling from Minnesota. It has been such a blast playing tour guide and getting to give our friends and family a glimpse of day to day life here in Qatar. 

 

For our friends that come into Qatar we have pretty much perfected the 3-4 day visit. We go camping and dune bashing in the desert, we have dinner in the Souq, walk along the Pearl, take a Dhow boat out on the cornice, show off our offices in Education City, explore the Museum of Islamic Art, and whatever other bits we are able to fill in. It is a breath of fresh air having visitors because all of the sites are new and exciting. People take countless photos of the things we might normally just walk right past. Doha is such a unique place and has so much to offer within such a small space.

This past weekend Kristal’s brother and sister surprised her and came to visit. Well technically Kristal knew that Turner was coming over but had no idea about Kelly. While they were here we took the Doha visit to a new level packing in visits in Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi in just four days. It was a full throttle pace but we were able to get an amazing amount done. The first stops were in Doha as we had dinner in the Souq, explored nightlight in Qube, and then spent the next day/night camping in the desert. It wasn’t the best weather for camping but we made the most of it and had a great time. The following day we did more of a driving tour of Doha to take in as many sites as we could. We made it a bit of an early night because we had a morning flight to catch to Dubai.

The flight to Dubai only takes about 45 minutes and couldn’t be easier. When we landed we rented a car for our two days and set out on the city. First stop was Abu Dhabi (just over an hour’s drive from Dubai) to see the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and followed by lunch at a beach along the corniche. The mosque is absolutely stunning and you could spend hours just walking around trying to take it all in. We were in a bit of a rush leaving Abu Dhabi because we had reservations for happy hour at the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. We took the elevator up 123 floors to the At.Mosphere restaurant for drinks and snacks as we looked down on Dubai’s other skyscrapers. After the Burj we went out in Dubai Marina at a Tiki Bar near our hotel before calling it a day. 

The next morning we had coffee along a beach front area called the Jumeria Beach Residences and

then had a traditional breakfast at the Center for Cultural Understanding (CCU). At the CCU we were able to have some great Q&A with a young Emirati college student about her culture and experiences growing up in Dubai. The second half of the day was spent mall hopping from the Mall of the Emirates with its indoor ski resort to the Mall of Dubai with its aquarium, fountains, and ground views of the Burj. Turner continued to have a field day taking as many photos and videos as he possibly could. We had to move quickly to fit it all in and by midafternoon we were already making our way back to the airport for Doha.

Kelly and Turner flew out from Doha that night after one last Souq visit, souvenir shopping, and Dhow boat cruise along the skyline. It was the perfect end to a perfect visit and we are so thankful they were able to come and see our lives here. Both of them left feeling incredibly surprised at how beautiful, safe, and interesting everything is over here. It was a trip full of memories that I am sure we will talk about for years to come. So thanks not only to Kelly and Turner but to all of our visitors recently who have shared their time with us here. Our doors are always open!

We Are Leaders @ Qatar

This past week was Spring Break here in Education City. Over the years I have had the privilege to travel to Nepal and Tanzania but this year the focus was on Qatar. All across Qatar schools look internationally to run outdoor leadership programs but never within our own country. This year we created a program called We Are Leaders @ Qatar which gave students the opportunity to spend six days and five nights in the desert working on personal and team development. As with any firs time programs, there were some bumps along the way but I can truly say this was one of the best programs I have had the chance to run in my time here. 

Over the course of the six days students completed many challenges that included rock climbing, long treks, mountain biking, and a business simulation. The program also had a lot of firsts for students. First time cooking for themselves, first time putting up a tent, first time walking 10km, and even first time cleaning a toilet. It was amazing to see from day one the learning that took place and I think it was an experience that no one will forget.  

For me personally the program came at a time when I was feeling quite low on my work responsibilities in Qatar. I won’t go into it in full but I was stuck in a negative cycle of emotions that WALQ helped me to break out of. In my time in Qatar I have been able to develop and deliver some amazing programs but WALQ will always hold a special place in my heart. I want to thank Red Rock International who helped deliver the program and all of the students for being outstanding over the course of the week. Video and photos coming soon!

Georgia: A cheesy, snowy heaven

What can I say about Georgia? It was on our bucket list of Doha travel for a while now, and once we found some airline tickets on a sale we decided to pull the trigger! Kristal played travel agent for this trip and was able to find an amazing little ski town called Gudauri, about 2 hours outside of Tblisi.

Our first Georgian experience was at passport control where they took our passports, gave us a stamp, and then handed us a bottle of Georgian wine while saying “Welcome to Georgia”. Not only were we shocked but this kind of hospitality was experienced over and over in our time there. On that first day we drove through a snow storm, on a windy two lane road, to the town of Gudauri. Visibility was poor and our driver took the turns at high speeds considering the conditions. We were thankful to make it to our hotel which include breakfast and dinner so we washed up before grabbing a meal.

When we woke up for the second day of our trip we were shocked to see the storm had passed and we were faced with bright blue skies and stunning mountain peaks. We spent the whole day on the ski slopes, with me learning and Kristal being patient. The cost of the ski resort was like a $12 shop. Lift ticket: $12, Rentals: $12, Lesson: $12, Experience: Priceless (I couldn’t help myself). The slopes were scattered with bars and restaurants pumping house music, $1 coffees, and Katchuporis. Speaking of, Katchuporis are the national dish of Georgia and essentially is a cheesy bread that comes in different forms. Check out the photo.

 

The mountains were so incredible that we wanted to maximize our time there and cut out some of the time we were supposed to spend in Tblisi. The morning of our second day we actually decided to Paraglide from the highest peak down to the bottom of the slopes. It was my first time Paragliding and it could not have been a better place. We have videos that we hope to post soon. After our paragliding session it was down to Tblisi for our own eating tour of the town. We only had one night in Tblisi so we could only scratch the surface of what it had to offer. Cobblestone roads, history, beautiful churches, food, drink, and ice cream were all around us. As we got ready to hop in a cab back to the airport we wished we had more time, although we say that every time.

 

If you get the chance, Georgia is a gem. From what we hear surrounding countries like Azerbaijan and Armenia are incredible as well. We were thankful to even get a few days there and hope to get back one day. A Katchupori magnet proudly hangs on our fridge to commemorate the few days there!