CARDIFF, Wales

British Tourist Authority Bute Park and Cardiff Castle are landmarks in South Glamorgan, Wales. Click photo for larger image. If you go to Wales There are hundreds of small hotels and inns all around Wales. To learn about some of them visit: Welsh Rarebits: www.welsh.rarebits.co.uk. These hotels are color-coded by price, ranging from around $170 to more than $260 for a double. Great Little Places: www.little-places.co.uk. These facilities include small hotels, inns, farmhouses, and restaurants with guest houses, and they range in price from around $100 for a double to well over $300 at the top end. Caldey Island: www.caldey-island.co.uk/home.htm. Portmeirion Village: www.portmeirion-village.com. Wales tourist information: www.walesinfo.com. -- Patricia Prattis Jennings

The day after my last concert as principal keyboardist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra last month wasn't a sad day. Rather it was the starting point for new adventures in retirement that began with a whirl westward and up the coast of Wales.

After performing in Cardiff on Aug. 29, the PSO had left for London to play at Royal Albert Hall, and then it was on to Germany to conclude its 2006 European tour.

My husband, Charlie, and I were on our own.

We had never been to the country of Dylan Thomas and "How Green Was My Valley," a place considered Britain's best-kept secret. So we rented a car in Cardiff, and off we went -- in the left-hand lane. I drove. Charlie prayed.

Our travel agent/friend Jean Farrand is from Manchester, England. She knows everything about getting around in Britain and put together a Welsh "sampler" package that took us to four charming and varied hotels from the 48-member Welsh Rarebit group -- two of them for two-night stays and the other two for lunch between towns.

Day One took us to Saundersfoot, a busy fishing village on the coast of the Bristol Channel. Our room at the St. Bride's Hotel looked down across a wide expanse of tawny beach and into the bustling town below.

Dinner was in the hotel's cool, classy dining room, where owner/host Andrew Evans visited each table to chat with diners. One might think that the cuisine of Wales would be primarily -- well, Welsh, whatever that might be. But that doesn't seem to be the case in a world that has become so cosmopolitan that local specialties share most menus with eclectic international offerings.

Associated Press A hiker takes in the view of Snowdonia, seen from Ceunant Mawr, North Wales. Click photo for larger image.

At our lunch stop at the Penhellig Arms in Aberdovey I ordered the Indian-inspired Chicken Tikka that came with white and wild rice, papadum -- a crisp flatbread similar to a tortilla -- and mango chutney to dip it in. In Wales!

Although the Welsh are famous for their lamb, we ordered mostly from the abundance of fish on every menu -- sea bass, bream, salmon, sea trout, hake, and the queen of all fish as far as I'm concerned, tender, succulent Dover sole.

Be prepared to open your wallet across the Atlantic. Because of the strength of the euro and the British pound, there aren't many bargains. Charlie would quote a price, and I'd remind him, "That's pounds, dear, not dollars." My Dover sole at St. Bride's Hotel was 20 pounds -- close to $40. But Dover sole is expensive everywhere.

In a few places we were given a choice between large and small glasses of wine, and although the prices were high, the glasses were filled practically to the brim. Some of the wines were excellent, some just so-so. And we shouldn't have been surprised that there were very few U.S., Australian or other non-European wines offered.

Not far from Saundersfoot was the walled, medieval town of Tenby, filled with tourists. Many of them were headed to the dock for the boat ride to peaceful Caldey Island, where an order of Cistercian monks has lived and worked for 1,500 years. Besides attending seven services each day -- beginning at 3 a.m. -- the monks busy themselves making shortbread, hand-made chocolates, and perfumes from the profusion of wild island flowers and herbs. We took a side trip to the island, which was a 20-minute boat trip.

Our next stop was at Portmeirion, well known to many as "The Village" in the 1967 British science fiction TV series "The Prisoner" with Patrick McGoohan. The village is the creation of architect Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis who, beginning in 1926, designed and built this Italianate town of colorful buildings, eclectic and fanciful objects, shops and cafes. I'm not much of a shopper, but I parted with a fistful of pounds to buy several pieces of Portmeirion pottery.

We stayed two minutes away from the Village at Castell Deudraeth. Begun as a cottage in the late 1700s, it has evolved into a beautifully modernized mansion with 11 guest rooms and suites with contemporary furnishings. We felt like royalty when we were ushered into our suite that included a living room with wide-screen TV/DVD, kitchenette (no stove), working fireplace, whirlpool bath -- and complimentary sherry.

	Wales Tourist Board via AP Betws-y-Coed, Wales Click photo for larger image.

"Crawly dydd," were the first words we saw on our Castell Deudraeth dinner menu. "Cawl pysgod cregyn Castell Deudraeth" follows. But to our relief, at the top of the second page we read, "Soup of the day," followed by "Castell Deudraeth shellfish bisque." Aha!

The Welsh are struggling to keep their language and culture alive. So on most printed matter, the Welsh comes first. On many road signs the top language is Welsh. When nearing a school, we approached signs reading, "Ysgol," with "School" underneath.

Dinner the second night was at the Portmeirion Hotel, where a harpist played Welsh melodies on a gold-encrusted Lyon and Healy concert harp. As I listened, I thought how surprised he might be to know that this unlikely-looking American tourist has more than a passing acquaintance with the harp -- and many other instruments of the orchestra. We spoke with him after dinner and learned that he owns five concert harps. That's impressive in a place that seems so remote.

From Portmeirion we headed north to the venerable Bodysgallen Hall hotel and spa near the resort town of Llandudno. Our travel agent purposely put Bodysgallen on our itinerary for lunch, on the way to the Manchester airport, because she didn't think we needed to spend the price of dinner there.

Bodysgallen Hall, situated on a hilltop, past fields of grazing sheep, is surrounded by beautiful, sculptured gardens. Service in the dining room is impeccable, but we were surprised by the tiny portions. No need to worry about spoiling our appetite for dinner.

In this rarefied environment the waiter didn't bring our check. We were advised that payment was at the reception desk. How civilized.

Lunch for the two of us was 49 pounds, close to $100. But -- what the hey? -- the service charge was included. Speaking of tips, here were two given to us before we left Pittsburgh: Take an umbrella -- it rains a lot in Wales, and it did -- and don't even try to learn any Welsh. There's plenty of it around and you'll be tempted. But your tries will probably be futile, and you run the risk of injuring yourself.

We've been to so many places with the Pittsburgh Symphony that some can only dream about. But rather than satisfying our curiosity about the world once and for all, those travels have only stoked it. And we've never seen more beautiful countryside or met friendlier, more helpful people than the Welsh.

If you think you'd like to go to Wales, you'd better go soon -- before everyone else discovers this fascinating land of hills and valleys, myth and legend.