We woke up to rain on September 13th so our bus trip to Ravello was slightly delayed.  We ended up going to Scala first since we were scheduled to have lunch there.  Scala is located on a rocky hill 400 metres above the sea.   At one time this town was the home of the local bishop.   The tiny  town had the requisite  main square, a very beautiful church,  an excellent restaurant called Ristorante dei Cavalieri and best of all fabulous views.      After lunch we continued on to Ravello,  a popular tourist destination due to its beautiful scenery.   We were fortunate that the rain held off for most of the afternoon.  Although we didn't see Ravello on a beautiful sunny day there is something special about cloudy , misty days which has its own scenic beauty.  

This shot  of Ravello was taken from the town of  Scala.   Not a beautiful sunny day but a really nice soft lighting effect.

After leaving the church, Pam and I were busy photographing this scene before the fog moved.  Not to mention we were afraid it was going to start raining any minute.

This gorgeous tree  was in the way but I still liked the shot.  

An old building in town.  

After lunch we left for Ravello.  This shot was taken when the bus driver left us off.  You can see what a beautiful area this is.  

Our main stop in Ravello was the Villa Rufolo.  The palatial Moorish-style estate was originally built in 1270 for the Rufolo family.   At the height of its importance in the 13th century it could boast more rooms than there were days in the year.  The entrance tower known as the Torre Maggiore is 30 metres high and was once used to spot pirate ships arriving to the Amalfi Coast.  The estate overlooks the Bay of Salerno and the upper terrace gardens contain cypress trees, cycads, yuccas and palms.     A lot of the heritage has been eroded by time and neglect but quite a bit has been rescued over the years and  new features have been added.  I liked walking around the grounds the best.  

In 1880, a trip to Villa Rufolo's garden inspired German composer Robert Wagner to write the second act of his final opera, Parsifal.  Every summer since 1952, Villa Rufolo hosts the Ravelo Music Festival, an open-air concert held in Wagner's honour.   I loved the colours of the chairs in the outdoor theatre.  

This is the classic shot that everyone takes from the gardens- the Umbrella Pine tree over the two church spires.    If I could just moved over to the left slightly I could have gotten space between the tower and the  tree.  I don't remember if this was physically possible or not so I might just have to go back one day to see.  

I waited a long time to get a shot where there were no people in the picture.  

Alfio, our photography  instructor preferred pictures with people in them which was so easy to do being surrounded by people everywhere.   Barry had taken a similar shot  which I really liked so I "borrowed" his idea of changing the picture to black and white.  

I found that this photo portrayed the mood of the day quite well.  I was quite happy with the gloomy weather.  

Another garden view with the gorgeous colours.

After leaving the gardens, we went to a church but Doug and I left shortly afterwards to explore the town which meant an uphill climb.  We hiked up and found this nice hotel so we wandered through the gardens.

We walked  through the narrow streets.

Eventually we met up with Pam and a few others from our group and found some nice scenery on our walk back to our meeting spot.  The above shot is  the Villa Cimbrone which is suppose to be the most spectacular hotel and public garden on the Amalfi Coast.    Before being a hotel,  at one point in belonged to a nearby monastery around the 17th century before falling into despair.  In 1904,  it was purchased by a British baron named Ernest  William Beckett.  Many famous people including E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Greta Garbo and Winston Churchill stayed here.

One last photograph of the area before it was time to leave.  It was just as well we were leaving because as we were on our way to meet the bus the rain started.  We ended up waiting for the bus in a tunnel so we and more importantly our cameras  wouldn't get totally soaked.  We were so lucky that it hadn't rained all afternoon.  Little did we know at this point the adventure that the next day would bring.