Hiking in Cercedilla.

Yep...once again life got in the way and there's been no time for blogging about my adventures over the past few months in southern France, coastal Spain and a crazy Oktoberfest experience in Munich. I seriously don't know how real, money-making bloggers churn out post after post on a regular basis!

When you live in a capital city with millions of other people, sometimes you just want to escape, commune with nature and experience some fresh air and peace and quiet. Lucky for me, a new friend I had met at an event organized a hike to the nearby town of Cercedilla. Granted, it was an early start time on a Sunday morning, which, as anyone who knows me knows, I am 100% not a morning person, but I felt the call of nature and decided to join in. We got off to a bit of a bumpy start as everyone but me missed the designated train, which meant I had over an hour to kill once I got to Cercedilla. Fortunately, it is a cute little town at the base of a mountain and I was able to wander around checking it out while I waited for everyone else to arrive.

Once the rest of the group made it, we were off to explore the nearby trails. In retrospect, being the only girl, maybe it wasn't the best idea to wander off into the woods with a group of guys I had only met that morning, but it turned out to be really fun and everyone was super nice and cool.

Part of the Camino de Santiago, marked by the yellow shell, which I'm planning to do a portion of in 2018​

After all of that hiking, it was time for a reward of some adult beverages. Fortunately, we stumbled upon a random bar barely visible from the street.

Random garden bar

It was owned by a lovely couple, and after a few rounds of drinks and tapas and relaxing in the sun, it was off to catch the train back to Madrid (which, fortunately, everyone made it onto this time around). Despite the early morning wake-up call, I'm glad I went. It was a nice chance to escape the pace of city life and meet some cool people while exploring a new area of Spain. Cercedilla is only a little over an hour train ride from Madrid and well worth the time to get a bit of a break and hit the reset button from city life.  

Next up, I'm finally getting around to recapping my first time trip to France this past summer. My introduction to the land of brie, wine and berets included Toulouse and an incredible day wine tasting at the chateaus of Bordeaux.