Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out

-Steppin' out!

-Steppin' out!

-It's said a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ -Welcome to "Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out."

♪♪ -♪ Steppin' out ♪ -Today we're cruising the Shannon River and steppin' out in Ireland's heartland.

Hi, guys.

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ -"Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is made possible by... -Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel in the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

♪♪ -There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach the beach.

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and Southern sun.

-It's possible to cruise through Ireland's heartland on the Erne and Shannon Rivers from Belleek at the northern tip of Lough Erne, to Killaloe at the southern end of the Shannon.

There are 300 miles of rivers, canals, and lakes connecting Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic.

To emphasize this historic link, I began my heartland adventure in the north in the riverside town of Enniskillen.

♪♪ Yes, I'm getting my hair cut.

Why?

Because I need a haircut.

But also, like when I go to any destination, I like to go to markets and places where the locals are so I can get to know the people who live in a destination.

And why not a barbershop?

This is probably the only barbershop that's also a railway museum.

Who came up with that idea?

-We had former railway employees coming in for getting a haircut, and they used to tell us stories about the railway.

It was a tribute to the former railway people.

We have children coming in with autism, and we have a little model railway set upstairs, and they can come along and play.

-So that gives them -- That calms them down and makes it easy for them to get a haircut.

How lovely that you do that.

What's the difference between a traditional haircut and a modern-day haircut?

-A lot of traditional barbers would prefer to use a scissor or a comb.

It's a way of just getting to know customers.

-When I was a kid, my dad gave my barber the permission to tell me off if he didn't like hearing what I was doing.

I looked up to him and listened to him.

I don't think I've had anybody brush hair off of my collar in 30 years.

♪♪ This is really terrific.

So are these the trains from your childhoods?

-Yes, very much so.

-This would be a child's delight, even a child in his 70s.

-I think this gives a chance to relive our childhood.

-Do you have to get your hair cut in order to see the trains?

-A haircut is optional.

-[ Laughs ] A haircut is optional.

-North, south, east, or west, Ireland is a treasure chest of attractions, and some of them are even buried underground.

Wow, so cool!

-And the cave here is completely naturally formed by water, because originally, it would have started off as a very small gap.

But over time, whenever water traveled through, it gradually eroded away at it.

-Are there a lot of caves in this part of Ireland?

-There actually are.

So, whilst we have the Marble Arch Caves, which is 11 1/2 kilometers, there's just under 30 kilometers of other cave systems here alone.

This particular formation is called a suspended flowstone.

Originally, the riverbed was a lot higher.

The calcite was deposited, and whenever the riverbed dropped to the level it's at today, that was left suspended.

We even call it the thatch, because we say it looks like a thatched roof on an old Irish cottage.

-Yeah, it does.

You know, there's something about caves that this beauty is under the earth.

As you're walking up above where the sheep are, you would never know that this was here.

It's almost like a sculpture underneath here.

-Exactly that.

-It's beautiful.

-So welcome to Earth Yoga here in the Marble Arch Cave.

And it's one of the oldest yoga studios in the world.

It was created about 300 million years ago.

So we'll start off taking a moment to tune into your surroundings.

The sound of the river.

The drips coming through the caves.

-I've never obviously done yoga in a cave.

What do you think makes this a perfect setting to do yoga?

-It's a very unique environment, and it's like a cathedral in here.

It's got that almost monastic feel about it.

-And yoga is such a wonderful thing to do.

But to get the energy from the cave flowing through you, as well, is really marvelous.

If you're going to describe what you hope people get from coming here and doing yoga and they came, what do you think that would be?

-It's almost like a womb-like space being in Mother Earth.

Even though it's made of rock, it's dynamic.

It's always changing.

It's always moving.

And I think yoga, you mightn't see the changes straight away, but over time, you can see how it changes, how it forms your body and your mind.

And I think the cave symbolizes that in a way, that slow change creating a big difference.

-Namaste.

At 224 miles, the Shannon River is the longest in Ireland, yet it begins its journey as a pond in one of Ireland's sheep-dotted fields.

I'm in the heartland of Ireland at Shannon Pot, which is traditionally considered the source of the Shannon River.

And since we're going to be spending seven days on the Shannon, we felt that we should begin at the beginning.

It's also a very energetic spot.

There are rituals and ceremonies that are done here to honor many of the mythological figures of Ireland's past.

So to connect to that energy and to bring that with us on the Shannon is the reason we came here.

♪♪ We're here at the Carrick- on-Shannon port for these boats that cruise on the Shannon and Erne waterway.

You know what really interests me about that waterway is that there was a section when it was built in the 1800s, four years later, the trains came in, and they went out of business.

The section that was part in north and part in the south, they left it derelict.

-Yes.

There was trees growing in the middle of the canal and no water at all in it.

But then the English government and the Irish government joined together and refurbished all the locks and automated all the locks.

And now all the boats can come from the north to the south and to south to the north.

-Without any problem.

They don't even know there's a border.

-That's right.

-I mean, there's no secret that Ireland had some troubles for about 30 years, and that waterway is symbolic of the joining.

-It opened up, and everyone cruises happily.

John, what kind of things are we going to see between here and Portumna?

-Well, you'll have nice little pubs and restaurants along the way, and, you know, you'll have maybe Irish music in some of them and maybe a little Irish dance.

You know, it's absolutely lovely.

-We're on the Shannon River in Ireland on a cruising Ireland adventure.

With me onboard is my co-captain, Ron, my first mate, Bernadette, my boatswain behind the camera, Marko, and covering sound for the show, our lockmaster, Mike.

So, a nice thing about the Shannon, as opposed to the other boat experiences that I had in France and in Canada, there are very few locks on the Shannon, so it is really a relaxing, chill experience.

♪♪ Ah, salud.

-Hi.

-Hello!

♪♪ -My Shannon River cruise takes me to Strokestown Park House, where I expect to find an historic example of the stark contrast between the 19th-century life of a British landlord and his Irish peasants.

Instead, I'm captivated by the National Famine Museum, which gives my heartland voyage a poignant new meaning.

-So, we're standing in front of the memorial wall that was erected in 2014 to the tenants who left Strokestown in March and May of 1847.

The local landlord here was carrying out mass evictions.

He was clearing them out, and then some of those who were evicted, 1,490, were selected to go on subsidized ships to Canada.

-And how many actually got to Canada?

-We believe somewhere in the region to 40%, 50% of the people would have died either on the journey or in quarantine, you know, in Quebec.

-This quote is part of a petition that the tenants here at this property made to the landlord, that, "We are not for joining in any thing illegal or contrary to the laws of God or the land."

So still being in deference to the landlord, but finishing with the line, "unless pressed to by Hunger."

Some words to remember as you walk into the museum are on the pavement here.

Hope.

Cruelty.

Courage.

Fear.

And this is the room that features the history of the famine itself and the disease that caused the potato famine.

This is an actual soup cauldron from the soup kitchens.

And then, as the government changed after two years of the famine, they began to say things like, "The only way to prevent the people from becoming habitually dependent on government is to bring the food depots to a close."

The people were left without any support at all, and the landlords had to take on the full responsibility of any kind of relief.

Here are some of the solutions that they were coming with at that time.

And one of them was you could either put your tenant in the workhouse and pay £11,000 a year to support them, or you could send them off to Canada for a one-time fee of £5,860.

And this is what Oisin introduced me to at the beginning, with the 1,490 people that left from this community.

And it's very interesting that in our journey on the Shannon River, that they would walk from here to where the Shannon and the Royal Canal would come together and then follow the Royal Canal into Dublin.

Many, of course, perished on the way.

♪♪ [ Voice breaking ] And this is the room that talks about how many people died during this tragedy.

A million people for sure perished, and a million more emigrated and left the country.

1/4 of the country was lost.

Still today, Ireland is only a population of 5 million people.

So the effects of the famine continue.

Of course, in many ways, our country, the United States, was enriched by the immigration of the Irish people, so their tragedy became our gain.

[ Sighs ] [ Chuckles ] That's quite a moving experience, Oisin.

Thank you very much.

-And here we have a space where some of the thousands of visitors from all over the world to the museum can leave comments.

For such an important event, it often shocks people to learn that for more than 100 years after it occurred, it was actually under-studied.

People wanted to forget it.

There was so much pain and even so much a sense of shame.

-The victims' shame.

Like, "Somehow I deserve this."

-Mm-hmm.

-"And I brought this on myself."

-Mm-hmm.

-And accepting somebody else's idea of who you are.

-You know, we really do hope that this museum does justice to the memory of those who died in this, you know, hugely important tragedy in Irish history.

-Back on the river, at a spot not far from where the National Famine Walk and the Shannon meet, we work our way and guide our boat through one of the waterway's automatic locks.

♪♪ We then follow the Shannon's flow down river and back in time to the town of Athlone.

Here at Athlone Castle, which is also the visitor center, you learn about the history of Ireland from Stone Age times.

Also, I'm here dressed like this because a very important event took place here, the siege of Athlone, which was part and parcel of the war between the Catholic king and the Protestant king, which, along with other battles that took place in Ireland at that time, ended up determining the future of Ireland and some of the struggles that the Irish have had to suffer over the years.

So we're going to do a quick view of the many rooms that are here.

But you, when you come, should pick a part of this experience that interests you the most and spend your time there.

On my trip through Ireland's Heartland, I discovered that the Irish story is not just chronicled by its castles and battlefields.

In fact, the most colorful tales are told in its ancient inns and pubs.

This is the oldest pub in the world.

-You are exactly right.

In 900 A.D., a man called Luain built the bar here.

The reason he situated the bar is you have the River Shannon here at the back door, and he guided what people and their animals over and back the treacherous waters.

Now, here in Ireland, nearly every town or city is built around a castle or a fort of some sort.

Athlone is not built around a castle or fort.

Athlone was built around a pub.

They had their priorities right.

-[ Chuckles ] -They built the pub here first, then a settlement built up around the pub and the crossing point.

And they didn't bother with a castle at all until 1129 to guard the settlement that had built up around the pub and crossing point.

He called that settlement Atha Luain, meaning "the ford of Luain" or "the place of Luain."

And today in Irish, Atha Luain is Athlone.

So that's even how the town got its name here.

We are 1,223 years old.

-And still going strong.

-So far, it hasn't fallen down.

-Sláinte.

-Sláinte.

You're very, very welcome.

-A modern complement to Ireland's historic pubs is its fine dining restaurants, where talented chefs explode the stereotype of a cuisine of potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes.

What do you call yourself, an Irish restaurant?

Or is there any kind of specialty, would you say?

-Yeah, I suppose we're a modern Irish restaurant.

So we use traditional ingredients, but we serve them in a modern way.

-Many of the people in the United States still think Irish food is just corned beef and cabbage.

-[ Chuckles ] There is that perception, yeah, but I think there's a higher standard of restaurant in Ireland now than there would have been maybe 10, 15 years ago.

-I think so, too.

-We want to give people a flavor of where they are, the location they're in, and the tastes that are around the location they're in.

-And unless they're here, they really don't get that taste.

They have to come to these restaurants... -Exactly, exactly.

-...in the heartland to have heartland food.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's unique.

♪♪ -One of the things you might forget when you go on boat trips down the Shannon is life on the boat.

Certainly, there's all the things you see and the experiences you have on the river and the towns that you stop at and all the activities you can have there.

But, you know, just being on the boat and doing the simple things like preparing breakfast is a great part of the experience.

Just hanging out, relaxing, that's at least 75% of the pleasure of taking a boat down the Shannon.

Whoopee!

-Nice.

Here we are!

Ta-da!

♪♪ -Good morning!

-Good morning!

-Saint Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century and, along with his followers, established more than 500 monasteries.

The monastic settlement of Clonmacnoise on the Shannon River is one of the best preserved.

-We got three high crosses, and this is the jewel in the crown at Clonmacnoise.

It's called the Cross of the Scriptures.

-And this tells the story of the crucifixion.

-Yeah, most of the images here are scenes from the Bible.

Here you got Christ being arrested.

He's got the halo.

The two Roman soldiers have got plumed helmets.

-And they look like they have halos.

Isn't that something?

-Yeah, because the plumed helmets reflect the halo.

We're all human.

That's what it's saying.

-Yeah, we're all holy in some way.

-We're all holy, maybe, yeah.

-So, this was where they actually rang the bells from.

-He'd ring a bell in the four different directions, in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

It was like an acoustic cross bringing blessings from heaven.

-Now, here we have the Shannon River.

How important was the Shannon to this location?

-Well, now, the Shannon, of course, is, you know, it's a thoroughfare.

You can move goods, people, livestock.

The thing about Shannon, as well as being a thoroughfare, it's a barrier.

So this is one of the places where the barrier could be bridged.

But the downside was that not everybody came here to say prayers.

-No?

-Raided many times by the Vikings, the Normans, the English.

But let me tell you, raided most frequently by the Irish tribes themselves.

-Really, really?

These sites are all wonderful.

And with "Steppin' Out," I'm interested in seeing what will it ultimately mean to me?

What does it mean to you?

-Even when it stopped being a monastery, it's a place of spiritual resource.

There are pilgrimage groups that come here.

But I guess if you want to put it in a word, it's spiritual sustenance.

-Well, thank you, Patrick.

-Thank you, Joe.

-Rather than religious sites, often artists are the keepers of the Irish cultural and spiritual flame.

Eibhlín works wood salvaged from Ireland's bogs, remnants of Ice Age lakes and forests.

-What we're doing is we're carving an ancient piece of a root to reveal the, kind of the unique form or shape that's underneath it.

And this oak tree is over 5,000 years old.

-What?

-And it was -- I know, and it was preserved in the bog for that length of time.

And we know, as well, that the bogs preserved the best part of our culture, 'cause you have the bog bodies that were preserved.

There were sacrificial offerings.

-People?

-People.

And some of the most important finds, like, say, if you take Clonmacnoise, and when the monks left, they hid some of the most important, say, chalice or whatever in the bog.

And they weren't found until much, much later.

-The bog took it over and -- -Yeah.

So, you had dead plants being pushed into the water, and peat are those dead plants.

And people discovered that they could dry this over time and use it for fuel.

And they also found ways of taking some of the trees out.

And during famine times... -Yes?

-...they put in a spike and out came this timber, and they used it as a firewood, the resin in pine that they used for torches, for lighting.

They wove it to make ropes for thatching.

-That's pretty resourceful.

-It was, absolutely.

-People had nothing.

-They had nothing.

-Figured out a way to come up with something.

-And the greatest gift you could give somebody was bloc mór na Nollag, which was the, like, Yule log.

And what it was, was somebody had dried some timber from the bog during the year, and they gave it to you to have as fire on Christmas Day.

-What a gift.

I understand companies realized that they could use this peat, and they could strip the land and basically cast the bog wood aside.

-Yeah.

So there's a whole movement of us preserving our bogs, letting them heal naturally, and let the plants grow back on them.

-Excellent.

-The state company who had developed the bogs were recruiting civil engineers.

That was my qualification.

And after about two or three years, they remembered that I had loved working with the wood and had queried what we could do with it.

And then they said, "Okay, if we gave you a tiny bit of money, would you set up a workshop and do something?"

And I was like, "Would I, what?"

-Can people come and learn from you?

-I do small groups where they carve something like this wish stone.

And this stone, then, is something that you hold, and you draw on this ancient energy.

So, the oak was associated with strength and endurance, and when they finished carving it and sanding and polishing it, is treasured.

This is a sacred tree.

It's deep within the bog, deep within our ancient Irish person.

I call it fuinneamh.

It's an Irish word that means this ancient energy coming right from the depths of the center nearly of your being or the center of the land.

-Wow.

That -- -And it's going right onwards.

-That's amazing.

So, what I'm trying to do with "Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is to share with my viewers experiences that you can have that are not just checking off landmarks, but also give you something that you can take away with you and make you a better person.

-The person goes away with a different understanding of our ancient culture, of -- -And themselves.

-And themselves.

♪♪ -Yahoo!

[ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ -Go, Robbie.

[ Indistinct conversations continue ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah!

-[ Whistles ] -Does this happen every Thursday night?

-Every Thursday night.

It's mostly for the young musicians to come in here.

-What is Irish traditional music?

-It's our way of expressing our feeling through music, -Your way of expressing -- -Our love for our country, our love for our people.

-Fabulous.

-And our love -- and our love for the world.

-Fabulous.

-♪ Sweet Rose of Allendale ♪ ♪ Sweet Rose of Allendale ♪ ♪ One maiden's form withstood the storm ♪ ♪ 'Twas the Rose of Allendale ♪ -Thank you for steppin' out with me on my Cruising Ireland's Heartland adventure.

There are many ways to compare my journey to the flow of the Shannon River that transported me.

While my voyage's exclamation points delivered their gifts... -You're very welcome.

Sláinte.

-...the Shannon hastened me on to my next surprise.

-[ Laughs ] -There were many.

"Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is about finding meaning in our travels, discovering it in the places we visit, the people we meet, and in ourselves.

While the Irish are always ready for good craic, "a good time," behind their smiling eyes, a history of pain, resistance, and resilience shine through.

[ Voice breaking ] Ireland made me laugh... [ Laughs ] ...shake my head in wonder, and Ireland made me cry.

And what I learned here are my true souvenirs.

♪♪ Till we meet again, this is Joseph Rosendo reminding you of the words of Mark Twain -- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

May your next adventure always be your best.

-"Joseph Rosendo's Steppin' Out" is made possible by... -Since 1975, we've inspired adults to learn and travel in the United States and in more than 100 countries.

From exploring our national parks to learning about art and culture in Italy, we've introduced adults to places, ideas, and friends.

We are Road Scholar.

We make the world our classroom.

♪♪ -There's a reason people call Myrtle Beach the beach.

There are 60 miles of wide, sandy beaches along South Carolina's Grand Strand coast.

This vacation destination has golf courses, attractions, food, wine, and Southern sun.

♪♪ -For a DVD of any of my "Steppin' Out" adventures or my companion memoir and travel book "Musings: The Short Happy Pursuit of Pleasure and Other Journeys," call 888-876-3399, order online at josephrosendo.com, or e-mail me at [email protected].

-♪ Steppin' out ♪ -Now that we've stepped out together through Ireland's heartland, learn more at josephrosendo.com, where you can follow my worldwide adventures through my e-magazine, blog, podcast, and social media.

Stay in touch.

888-876-3399, or e-mail me at [email protected].

Sláinte.

-Sláinte.

-Sláinte.

-We're steppin' out.

-Steppin' out.

-How do you feel you're steppin' out?

-I think I'm steppin' out pretty good.

[ Laughs ] -Well, you're always looking to step out in new directions.

You're always looking to go different directions and see where it takes you.

-Trying to get better all the time.

That's -- That's the way we step out.

-I'm steppin' out for -- for my spirit within what I do.

Trying to place myself where I am, within the world as it is and what -- how I can communicate that through our history.

I'm steppin' out each day, and I love what I do.

-At this time of your life and in this place, how are you steppin' out?

-Very badly at the moment.

The legs are not great.

[ Laughter ] -♪ Steppin' out ♪ ♪ Steppin' out ♪