Since beginning my lonely (and not so lonely) journey 6 years ago, I decided finally to check off my 100th country today.
With about 36 hours off from work and finishing my overnight shift in the ER at 7am, I headed to JFK airport where I boarded an extremely affordable (think cheaper than it is to fly the 1 hour flight to Boston) 11:41am American Airlines direct flight to Bermuda.
I passed out immediately after getting into my seat and buckling in, waking up conveniently when we landed in Bermuda at 2:50pm.
The passport line took awhile; I finally got into my cab to Hamilton (The fare was around $30-$35 USD and took about 25 minutes) at around 3:30pm.
When leaving the airport I thought I was driving towards a really long, freshly painted, brightly turquoise fence. I took a closer look and realized it was real water. Yes, the water here is that blue.
After settling in at my AirBnB in the outskirts of Hamilton on Rosemont Avenue, we began our self-guided walking tour towards the capital city on Pitts Bay Road, reaching Barr’s Bay Park first.
A little more east of the park, as Pitts Bay Road becomes Front Street, you’ll come across the old Bank of Bermuda building that’s now an HSBC.
South of the building is another small park called Albuoy’s Point.
Continue east along Front Street where at the intersection of Front and Queen Streets is the Birdcage, an old colonial-era structure where officials used to stand in all day and direct traffic.
Turn north on Queen Street and on your right will be Par-La Ville Park:
…and the cute little Perot Post Office.
Turn right on Church Street where in the center of the city lies City Hall.
Adjacent to City Hall on the east is the Hamilton’s Bus Station.
One block north of the Bus Station is Victoria Park:
And another block north of Victoria Park is St. Teresa’s Cathedral.
From there we headed back south to Church Street and proceeded east, passing the grand Bermuda Anglican Cathedral:
East of the Cathedral is the colonial-era Parliamentary Sessions House:
And one block south is the Cabinet Building and Cenotaph/WW 2 Memorial:
The highlight attraction here will be Fort Hamilton, about 2 blocks north and east of the area containing the Cabinet Building and Cathedral. Head up the hill and you’ll find a few signs leading you there.
Fort Hamilton was built by the colonial British Empire during the American Civil War as a means to defend their Bermudan outpost in case things got dodgy and reached the Atlantic. Obviously it didn’t, so this fort was never used for its intended purpose other than becoming a minimally staffed museum reminding everyone what British colonialism looked like.
Although the closing time is listed as 5pm and it was already 6pm by the time we reached the fort, there was nary a soul (security, staff or tourist) around, so we went in anyway.
The fort is quite pleasant to walk around, and there are explanatory signs everywhere that obviates the need for museum staff.
You can get great views of Hamilton from the fort:
If you explore particularly thoroughly, you’ll find hidden stairwells and other nooks and crannies that lead you to the circumferential moat that surrounds the fort.
Instead of the typical water when you think of “moats”, it’s actually a peaceful, walkable jungle.
You can also access the creepy underground tunnels, some of which entrances/exits are inside the fort, and others that can be accessed via the “moat”:
After about 45 minutes wandering along around the fort, we headed back into the city.
…where we finished our day with a seafood and suckling pig dinner at Barracuda Grill:
…and some outdoor hookah on the balcony of Café Cairo:
- At time of posting in Hamilton, Bermuda, it was 21 °C - Humidity: 60% | Wind Speed: 24km/hr | Cloud Cover: partly cloudy