Anne & Kirk Woodyard – Music and Markets Tours

Slow boat to Capri – a couple of hours, and a boatful of music lovers from the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. We chug out of the Salerno harbor, enjoying the views of colorful homes and impressive Italian engineering – we came by bus atop those towering viaducts!Staying inside for the trip, we read, nap and chat and the time passes quickly.Soon we’re tucked inside a canvas-topped Capri cab for the breath- taking ride up to Anacapri –
backing up to let a bus pass on the way up the snaking one-car-wide road.

Walking down a shaded pathway, we pass boutiques selling limoncello, fragrant lemon soaps and perfumes, Capri style, and handmade sandals, on our way to the beautiful home, now a museum, of Dr. Axel Munthe, a Swedish physician who loved this island and took years to build his dream home high in Anacapri.

His fascinating memoir, The Story of San Michele, is still in print after nearly a century, and has been a best-seller in many languages.

The airy home is filled with exquisite furniture and fragments of ancient Roman sculpture, many found as the property was under construction, on the site of one of emperor Tiberius’ many villas on Capri.The exquisite gardens always make me want to just stay for hours gazing at the flowers and views. I can’t imagine a more beautiful place to live…As we pulled into the harbor we pointed high above to the edge of the villa where a mysterious red sphinx from Egypt looks down over the island. Now, high above, the sea, we enjoy the views below.And then to another garden, the vine- covered terrace of Il Solitario, where we enjoy a delicious seafood lunch.After a stroll through Anacapri, past colorful ceramic benches, Kirk and a few of our guests walk down through Capritown to take in the views of Il Faraglioni, Capri’s signature rock formations, while I keep another guest company in the shops.

A quick walk through Capri Town, and we’re back on the ferry, returning in time for another Amalfi Coast Music Festival evening concert…don’t want to miss that!

What a pleasure to spend a day on this idyllic island – we’ll be back in July with our Music and Markets guests – come along!

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The best way to describe us (Kirk and Anne Woodyard) is that we’re interested in the stories that make the places we visit come alive.
We’ve visited Europe more times than we can count, learned some entertaining stories there, and met some warm and helpful people who also enjoy the wonders of music and life in Europe.
Between our music-related travels, we split our time between our homes near Washington DC and the south of France. We look forward to sharing these stories and friends and experiences with our Music and Markets guests.
While both of us have experience in organizing travel and music groups Kirk’s background is in project management and competitive writing, and Anne is an accomplished pianist with over thirty years of teaching experience, and a travel and food writer specializing in France and Italy.