Hello friends!  Happy Monday!  I am coming back from an awesome quick weekend in Valle del Jerte (Extremadura) where I spent two days eating, hiking, drinking, relaxing, and laughing.  My friend (and neighbor), Cristina invited Luis and me to join a trip to Valle del Jerte, where there was supposed to be an incredible blooming of cherry trees.  She rented an awesome house in a pueblo (town) called Pasarón de la Vera and then we drove an hour on the second day for our hike.  Unfortunately, we were a little early for the blooming of the trees, but the hike was still beautiful and it was an awesome little getaway.  Just three hours from Madrid, Extremadura is a great place to spend a weekend.

We left Saturday morning and made the 2.5 hours drice to Pasarón de la Vera and started with a coffee and then headed to our incredible Airbnb. 

Cristina found this place and left it as a surprise for all of us and, needless to say, we were all completely blown away.  Here´s a quick tour…

It was a converted 300 year old home that has been reconvated and updated into an Airbnb, but it was full of really cool nooks and crannies, like a wine cellar! 

Once we got over the Airbnb, we headed out for a walk and lunch. 

On our walk, we found that the town was actually quite empty and quiet, with only one restaurant open and pretty much all of the shades drawn.  

That´s ok though- the restaurnant that was open was a great spot for a sunny lunch on their terrace.

When lunch was over, everyone went to rest, but Luis and I went out for a walk around the town. 

The town is so small that we kept ending up in the same place, but it was nice to stretch my legs.  We went back to the house to rest and then we all piled back into the car to a path which was just a 5 minute drive away. 

We walked a bit down the path, stopped to touch our new friend, and then turned back since things were pretty muddy.  

Back at the house, we drank wine, played games, did puzzles, listened to music, and eventually stopped for this perfect homecooked meal from two of the people in the house.

After dinner, we played a couple games and called it a night at 2 am…which then changed to 3 am.  We all forgot about DST!

The next morning, we had breakfast and coffee out on the terrace.

Breakfast goals or what?

After breakfast, some of us packed up our things and then we all piled back into the cars to head to our hike! 

Just a quick 55 minute drive brought us to the base of this great hike.  It was only about an hour to the destination, but a good mix of climbing up and some flat walking, with beautiful views of the mountains in the distance.  

At the end of the hike, you´re rewarded with this beautiful waterwall, where we stopped to have lunch and walk around.

I imagine that it´s a great place to go in the summer- perfect for hiking and swimming.  For now, the water was definitely ice cold.

We ate lunch, lounged on the rocks, and then hiked back.  It took less time to get back and we were all sweaty and dusty at the end, but it was so worth it.  We made the 3 hour hike back and talked about how beautiful the scenery was.

I am so happy we were able to spend the weekend in Valle del Jerte and see a new place with new people.  Everyone was so nice and it made me thankful to have some awesome new friends.  Another place in Spain, checked off the list!  

And now, Luis and I are off to ISRAEL in just 2 short days.  I will be Instagramming a lot of our adventures, so follow along @tlcohen91.

See you soon!  And Happy Passover.