Bilbo was like a tourist, travelling far through Middle-earth to Rivendell, the Woodland Realm, Esgaroth, Dale, the Erebor and back. But given his wanderlust and his friendship with the elves, why didn't he ever consider visiting the Grey Havens and the Tower Hills which are bordering the Shire a...
No he wasn't. He went on one journey, supported by thirteen dwarves and an occasional wizard. He never went anywhere else until his 111th birthday, when he went to Rivendell again.
@OrangeDog The Great East Road goes from Rivendell to Mithlond. It is the road Frodo and Bilbo eventually took. The reason AncientSwordRage's map doesn't show it past Michel Delving is because its course is not known exactly between it and Mithlond, but it goes there on.
Because traveling just to travel/see things was not something people in Middle-Earth generally did. Hobbits even less so, even if Bilbo was an exception to a degree (and even he did not travel for the sake of travel).
@suchiuomizu Bilbo said "I want to see mountains again" (in Westron, I don't know if that's how it's translated into English). Even if he travels merely because of his friendship with Dwarves and the Men of Dale, he could have visited his friend Dwalin in the Ered Luin. From there (Thorin's Hall) he could have taken another way to the even much closer Mithlond: the dwarven road through Noglond, Gondamon and the Rath Teraig. Whatever, it seems a bit ironic that Bilbo wasn't curious about seeing Aman and Mithlond which eventually was the most beautiful sight to him, and so close to the Shire.
" Here is a sight I have never seen before" is a film quote, so the answer is "because Peter Jackson". I don't think there is any indication in the books as to whether Bilbo visited Mithlond before his final journey. Also note that, even if Bilbo knew about the Palantir in Elostirion, the elves guarding the tower would not allow him to use it because he had no hereditary right (see note 16 to The Palantiri in the Unfinished Tales). Finally, note that the stone can view Tol Eressea, not Aman.
@IanThompson That's as if I said "you can view Key West, not Florida". Tol Eressea belongs to Aman since the 2nd age. More precisely, you can see from the Elostirion's palantir to the palantir on Tol Eressea, so you see what you can see from where Tol Eressea's palantir is standing. If it stands with an outside view of the Taniquetil which is close to the island, you might see the Taniquetil from Elostirion.
@OrangeDog and upvoter Who decides what's an official map? Whatever, it's a fact that the Great East Road connects Mithlond and Rivendell. There's no speculation, except that we don't know its exact way on maps. It doesn't end/begin at Michel Delving but goes on through the Shire's gate to the Far Downs. static.wikia.nocookie.net/aotr/images/7/78/…
@Wingfoot provide a source. An actual quote or map from Tolkien's published work of that being true at the end of the Third Age.
@IanThompson The Silmarillion says that Elendil could view the Undying Lands using the Elostirion Stone. The Palantiri are not point-to-point viewing devices - they let you see anywhere (except the aforementioned stone, which can only look West).
@Wingfoot --- In the index to the Silmarillion, the entry for Undying Lands is 'Aman and Eressea', so the latter is not part of the former. The very end of the Akallabeth implies the same: the boundary of Aman is beyond Eressea. There is no suggestion whatsoever of using the Palantir to see anything beyond Eressea: "... it is believed that thus he [Elendil] would at whiles see far away even the Tower of Avallone upon Eressea." To suggest that someone else could see further is absurd.
Discussion on question by Wingfoot: W…
Discussion on question by Wingfoot: W…