Anne & Kirk Woodyard – Music and Markets Tours

Plan A: Sell our US home in 2020, move to our much-loved apartment in Aix-en-Provence
Covid derailed that plan for sure – no Americans can enter France since March! So where to live now that all of our belongings are in storage after the sale of our home? We’ve got to live SOMEWHERE – but where?
Plan B: Fly to the ONE European country allowing Americans to enter – Croatia! So away we flew in early October, and here we are, in a wonderful 8th floor apartment in Split, chosen for its view of the sea as well as required comforts for an extended stay. Split is Croatia’s second largest city, after the capital, Zagreb, and is located on the gorgeous Dalmatian coast, facing Italy.
For those who may be interested in spending time in this beautiful country, here are the ABC’s:
Before November 30, when tourism was removed as an accepted reason for entry (at least until 15 December), there were specific requirements for entering Croatia as an American: proof of lodging, and a 14 day quarantine, unless you present a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of landing in the country. Of course we chose the test route, although we continue keeping to ourselves, as we did when living in Virginia. Finding a facility that promises a 48 hour turn-around was a challenge – and since we were not symptomatic, but were getting the test for travel, costly as well! We chose My Doctor’s Pharmacy, not far from our northern Virginia home, and took our self-administered tests 2 days before our entry into Croatia, driving to the rear of the pharmacy and following the instructions of the pharmacist who handed us the tests.
Before traveling, we made sure to print out transit requirements for Germany, since that was our route – Washington-Munich-Split, in case we were asked to show permission to transit. We also printed out the Croatia entry requirements, and receipt and appointment verification for our PCR tests.
Our entry requirements were confirmed at check-in in Washington. Before landing in Germany entry forms were handed out to all to be completed – we asked if we needed them as we were transiting. The flight attendant did not know, and said to fill them out to be safe. As it turned out there was no need for the forms – we walked off the transatlantic flight and directly to our gate for the Split flight. No questions were asked as we boarded.
When we arrived in Split we went through passport control, and at that time were asked from where we originated, where we had been living, for the address of our lodging (although we had been told we would need a receipt proving payment for lodging, that was not requested), how long we were staying, and test results – well, the emailed results had not yet arrived! The kind and helpful agent asked for our phone numbers and emails, apologized and said we’d have to quarantine until we received the (negative!) results, and we said no problem. He gave us a phone number to call – a health agent for the Dalmatia region – with the results. Once the negative results were confirmed, we would be taken off of the list of people who would be checked on to make sure they are quarantining for the required 14 days. Although, as mentioned above, tourism is not now an accepted reason for entry, these requirements may be helpful to know when Croatia re-opens for tourism.
We called an Uber to take us to the apartment, met our host, Boris, elevatored up to the 8th floor, and were immediately drawn to the view – isn’t it spectacular? We certainly wouldn’t mind self-isolating here while waiting for our test results! We asked Boris if he would make that call for us when we received the results, and he did so when they arrived within an hour or two.
We were free! So walked downstairs to a nearby market, bought a few supplies, and made a pasta dinner to enjoy on the balcony, toasting the sunset and our safe arrival – hooray for Plan B and the opportunity to revel in the discovery of a marvelous new place!
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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. We look forward to sharing these stories and friends and experiences with our Music and Markets guests.
Since 2003 we’ve hosted Music and Markets tours in France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, England and Spain, and in 2019 added Wonder Tours with a more intentional concentration on art and architecture, local culture, food and wine, and less time dedicated to concert-going.
We also design and host custom private tours – previous locations include many French, Spanish, British and Italian regions.
Between our music-related travels, we enjoy our home in the south of France. 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 forty years of teaching and performance experience.