India, July 10 -- I planned a family trip to Wales because of a bridge.

I had seen Devil's Bridge in a brooding Welsh-language crime drama: dark, atmospheric, wrapped in mist. Three ancient bridges spanning the Afon Mynach gorge, each built upon the last. We arrived there by steam train, on the narrow-gauge Vale of Rheidol Railway that has linked Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge since 1902, winding through wooded valleys and past rushing streams.

Devil's Bridge was every bit as haunting as I'd imagined. But it wasn't the bridge that stayed in my mind; it was Aberystwyth. Like most visitors, I'd treated the seaside town as a base. I wasn't expecting much, I confess, but I was wonderfully surprised.

Aberystwyth, which translates to "the mo...