The Map

One thing every tourist and new resident to Bermuda needs is a copy of the old bus map.  The bus service has stopped giving out this map, but you can usually get it from the tourist center at the ferry terminal in town.
This trusty little map lets you know which buses will take you to where you want to go, but more importantly, they list a lot of little sites that you might otherwise never notice or hear of.  I used to get one whenever I had guests in town, and used it when I was new, but I had not actually studied it for quite some time until Siobhan pulled it out of her backpack on one of our adventures.

After that we used it quite frequently -- where should we go next?  What's that green spot, must be a park, let's go check it out.  Cannon indicates fort, tree indicates park, houses for historical buildings, lines for bridges and railway trail....obviously the lighthouse is a lighthouse, and all sorts of interesting little script that may or may not warrant a drive, like the "memorial rubber tree."  I think I missed that until just now actually.  Anyone still in Bermuda feel free to go get a picture of that if you can find it and post below!

Of course not all of the little roads are listed, in fact, even some of the bigger roads are not, and so finding Abbot's Cliff was a bit of a mystery to me.  Hint, directions are in the Abbot's Cliff blog, but that little park seen in green on this map is actually just a sign on a patch of grass about 2 feet bigger than the sign that says "Abbot's Cliff."  The green spot is a bit misleading in that case.  Chalk that up to the charm of Bermuda!

 Another great reason to travel with the map is that it doubles as a disguise.  We learned while sitting at a cafe that if you have the map in plain site, you are magically transformed from ex-pat to tourist, which sometimes has the perks of a brighter smile and friendlier service!

So, if you are new to Bermuda, or just visiting, pick one of these up as soon as you can.  I grew quite fond of Siobhan's little map!