There’s no need to hurry in Bermuda
Island’s easygoing lifestyle, gentle beauty captivate guests
HAMILTON, BERMUDA— This small island — only 53.2 square kilometres in size and 1,046 kilometres off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. — gave the world shorts (still used as part of the island uniform), onions (still used in island cuisine) and grass (still used on the island’s ubiquitous golf courses).
Bermuda has earned literary cred, as well. An early chronicler of its infamous Triangle, William Shakespeare used it as the shipwreck setting for his play The Tempest, making it the only New World location the Bard ever cited by name.
While The Tempest’s Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel had their share of difficulties, today, Bermuda’s gentle beauty and easygoing lifestyle lure those who wouldn’t mind being shipwrecked on its shores.
It’s no wonder. Luminous turquoise waters lap shell-pink sand beaches; frangipani perfumes the air and pastel coloured houses snuggle behind winding hedgerow-bordered roads with names such as Happy Talk Lane and Pie Crust Place.
For those who suffer from Anglophilia, it’s comforting to know you don’t have to travel across the Atlantic to get your Britain fix. Bermuda is arguably the most British of all the Commonwealth nations.
A top island attraction is the Dockyards, former headquarters of the British Navy, now a collection of fashionable restaurants, pubs and shops, the latter stocked with British imports, meaning you can get cashmere, tweeds and Wedgewood china, although don’t expect bargain prices.
If you think you have to go to Scotland for the world’s best golf, consider this: Bermuda has more golf courses per square kilometre than anywhere else in the world, and not a single one has anything to do with Donald Trump.
Pink sand and blue water, Bermuda shorts and the British flag, sailboats and sunsets — visitors to this beautiful island are spoiled for choice.