Written by
Inbal Cabiri
My spouse’s birthday and mine are two days apart – reason enough, we decided, to finally get out of the bubble we’d been stuck in for months.
Since the last lockdown, we’d only been allowed to move around within our own municipality, and, how do I put this gently, I’d already exhausted every forest nearby and not so nearby. I needed some different trees. We’d still have restrictions there, of course, but at least the view would be new.
It took me a few days to find somewhere that ticked every box: open (lots of places had closed temporarily), available at the last minute (usually the hard part), a stone house, good for kids, and with a kitchen (did I mention the kids? They’re hungry most of the time). I shared the list of great places I found along the way in my Facebook group. So how was it? What did we do? And what’s the story with the proposal? Read on.
This post contains affiliate links. If you book through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps me keep writing, taking photos and sharing what I find on the road – for free and without annoying ads. Thanks for being part of the journey.
This place had been on my list for a long time. It wasn’t available on the weekend I’d planned, so I looked at all sorts of other places, until I finally gave in and moved our dates so we could stay here.
Eva, the owner, couldn’t have been more helpful, right from the first phone call. We arrived late in the evening after a little over an hour’s drive, and, as we’d arranged, dinner was waiting for us. Best decision we made.
Eva’s love of little details is everywhere you look.
She showed us around the ground floor, which is beautifully designed. Anyone who knows me knows I have a soft spot for places that are designed with real care – the kind where you walk in and instantly feel at home. So of course I asked who the designer was. She gave a slightly shy smile and said it was her.
And suddenly I heard myself asking, “Will you marry me?” For some reason, she just laughed and didn’t want to get into details. Note to self: next time, travel to beautifully designed places alone.
The dining table was set for two adults and two kids. For us: cloth napkins and grown-up cutlery. For them: placemats with crayons and a sharpener (!), paper napkins and smaller cutlery. The kids had burgers with crispy, really good fries. We had an excellent cream of artichoke soup, beet carpaccio with fresh local cheese, and vegetable rice, and finished with a light tiramisu that wasn’t too sweet. You can taste the quality of the ingredients in every dish. Eva told us the vegetables come from the farm next door, whose owners also sell at the Saturday market in Ripoll, and the dairy and meat come from another farm a short drive away.
t was only in the morning that we saw how beautiful the place really is. Breakfast was generous and almost entirely local. There was tupí, a traditional fermented cheese that farmers used to take up to the mountains with them. It has a very strong smell (which I couldn’t get past, so I can’t tell you how it tastes), and it comes plain or with truffle. There were also yogurts and mató made from sheep’s and goat’s milk, plus croissants, cured sausages, bread, a big selection of jams and, of course, fresh orange juice. In short, nobody leaves hungry.
This blog is a great excuse to ask people to tell me about themselves – something that might otherwise sound a little creepy. So here goes.
Eva Arbons started out working at her then-partner’s family hotel in the Pyrenees. She spent a few years there in all sorts of roles, and studied cooking and pastry at the Hofmann school in Barcelona at the same time. (I knew I should have married her!) She always dreamed of having a hotel of her own.
One of the guests at that hotel was Francisco Heras, a former El Bulli chef, who offered her a partnership in a new restaurant. Together they opened Llamber Tavern in Avilés, in Asturias. A few years later, they moved the restaurant to Barcelona’s El Born neighborhood, where it’s still open today as Llamber – an Asturian word meaning to lick, or to eat something sweet. Five hundred meters away, they opened El Chigre 1769, a cider and vermouth bar that also serves food. Both joined Slow Food Barcelona, which means they’re committed to the slow food philosophy: local produce and everything that goes with it. And Eva designed them both.
She spent years looking for a hotel to call her own, until in 2018 she found this building, which had been used as a hostel. She renovated it and decorated it with things she’d collected over a lifetime, mostly from flea markets – enough to fill eight moving trucks. Just three weeks (!) after she moved in, the place opened to guests. Today she runs it herself, with help from her partner. A dream come full circle.
The building probably dates back to the 14th century. Records in the nearby church show that a Mrs. Mir sold a cow to a neighbor in 1366, so it was definitely standing by then.
There are five double rooms of different sizes on the upper floor of the main house. Each one is decorated a little differently, with antique furniture, crisp white linens and natural toiletries made especially for the hotel by a local woman. (I got a special tour, and my conclusion was that I need to come back with my spouse – without the kids.)
The shared spaces include a small, intimate dining room, a games room and two lounges, each with a roaring fireplace. The bigger one looks out over the pool and the valley. On the ground floor there are more places to sit and a farmyard with chickens and goats. Outside, there’s a separate little house called the casita, meant for families – that’s where we stayed. By the way, the place also hosts weddings. (I almost pulled it off.)
Update, January 2022: I came back with a group of girlfriends, no kids, to celebrate a milestone birthday. An unforgettable weekend.
Update, December 2024: Mas el Mir is now adults-only. There’s a gorgeous new suite on the top floor, where Eva used to live, and she’s moved into the casita – the very apartment where we stayed.
Update, June 2025: Eva invited my spouse and me to stay as her guests. You can see our short (and wonderful) getaway in my Instagram highlights.
A video I shot and edited while everyone was still sleeping…
If you live in Catalonia, you’ve almost certainly driven through Ripoll on your way to the Pyrenees or the Vall de Núria. It’s worth stopping. It’s a lovely old town with a nice center and a pedestrian street.
If you’re in the area on a Saturday morning, it’s well worth a visit. You’ll be surprised to find stalls tucked into all sorts of corners and alleys a few streets from the very center of town. It has everything you’d expect at a Catalan farmers’ market, with fresh, good produce at fair prices.
It wasn’t warm at all, but a coat and a good mood do the job until the sun makes a proper appearance. This walk starts right from the farmhouse. We followed Eva’s precise directions down the path, said goodbye to the cows mooing away with their bells on, and kept heading downhill until we reached a tiny fork. There, we turned left onto a narrow path that’s easy to miss, and two minutes later we were at a small waterfall.
If you miss the turn, just keep going until you reach the stream that crosses the path. The day we went, the water was fairly high – about halfway up an adult’s shin. The waterfall is a perfect spot for a midday picnic, a coffee or a tea, and in summer I imagine it’s ideal for a swim without the crowds (don’t tell anyone). There are two more waterfalls and pools like this one farther along.
This path runs alongside the Ter River, which rises high in the Pyrenees at about 2,400 meters. It’s great for cycling, walking, running and even strollers. Fun fact: this is the route that coal and iron once traveled for 12 km to Sant Joan de les Abadesses (a small town where we stayed on another trip). Today it’s part of Spain’s Vías Verdes (Greenways) program, which has turned more than 3,100 km of disused railway lines into walking and cycling paths.
Want to rent a bike? There’s a rental place at the start of the route, CAT Can Guetes, and two more not far away: Bicicletes Pirineu Oci Actiu and Pirineus Bikes Ripoll. Book ahead and check the latest opening hours.
Getting there: Put “Ruta del Ferro, Ripoll” into your GPS. Park near the square – there’s a big lot with room for camper vans too.
If you haven’t done the Seven Waterfalls trail yet, it’s very close and well worth the walk. It starts near Campdevànol, next to the ropes park, which is worth a stop in its own right.
Sadly, I don’t have much to offer on this front. The two restaurants we’d been recommended – a local one, Els Amics – Casa de Menjars, and an Italian one, La Piazzetta – were both closed. In the end, we ate somewhere not worth writing about.
A small shop with a big selection of dairy and meat. We left with cheesecake, mató, every kind of flan they had (egg, mató, vanilla and chocolate) and a few more cheeses. The tierno was my favorite. They also offer guided tours.
If you’re in the area, Eva recommends booking a table at Restaurant Dachs, a Catalan restaurant that’s supposed to be very good. It was closed on our weekend too, because of the regional lockdown.
A Closer Look at Overtourism in Spain – and Why It Matters In the summer of 2025, people took to the streets in Barcelona, Mallorca,
Hungry for More: A Culinary Journey Through Beautiful Basque Country In the Basque Country, food is a way of life. The pintxos bars and restaurants
3 Reasons to Rent a Vacation Apartment in Madrid 1. Live Like a LocalThere’s something special about waking up to the rhythm of Madrid —
The winners and losers of the 2025 Michelin Guide to Spain Spain’s Michelin Guide 2025 is out – and it brings new stars, a few
Cíes Islands Just a short ferry ride from Vigo, the Cíes Islands (Illas Cíes in Galician) feel like another world. The archipelago, off the coast
Soria, Spain: The World Capital of Truffles (and Why You’ve Never Heard of It) Published in Haaretz By Inbal Cabiri Spain has no shortage of
Looking for the most beautiful, delicious, and inspiring places?
Vicky & Cristina always know where to go.
Who’s behind the blog? Read here
ברגעים אלו ממש נשלח אליך מייל –
אם לא מצאת אותו בתיבה, אולי הוא מסתתר בקידומי מכירות או בספאם.
ניפגש שם!
