Intrepid Travels

What an amazing place this is. Second only to St Helena as the most remote country in the world, Bermuda is a collection of volcanic islands surrounded by hostile reefs and set in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It has the other feature of being the longest continually English-run country in the western hemisphere. When Sir George Somers deliberately beached his hurricane damaged ships on the reefs in the late 1600s, the islands were uninhabited. He fell in love with the islands and eventually settled here and started a new colony. The islands, although now self-governing, remain part of the Commonwealth and retain much of the heritage of the last few centuries of British colonial rule (there are even stocks and ducking stools in the larger harbours!). Despite recurrent hurricanes, many of the original buildings survive. A unique feature of the buildings is the roof structure here: quarried stone shingles laid on a timber frame and then sealed with cement and whitewashed. The result is an attractive, and quite striking, solid white roof. The houses are painted bright colours and the building rules dictate that no building can be taller that the magnificent Anglican cathedral in Hamilton, the capital. The vegetation is tropical and abundant and the small islands are linked by causeways, so the water is never far away. The people are, without exception in our experience so far, delightfully friendly and warm, and it is such a pleasure to catch the bus, go shopping or walking, or interact in any way with them.
We have had many conversations with locals and it appears that the tourist economy is enough to support a vibrant economy, without destroying the natural beauty of the place. There is little unemployment and poverty is very unusual. There is a sense of pride in belonging here which is refreshing, and infectious. We have a lot to explore here!