Burt Wolf: Travels and Traditions

In 1854, two real estate promoters turned a windswept island off the coast of New Jersey into America's favorite seaside resort. Burt Wolf looks at the history of Atlantic City, America's first official lifeguard service, the invention of Salt Water Taffy, and the workings of the modern slot machine. He also tours Atlantic City's hotels, casinos and restaurants, including the shop were the sub-sandwich was invented. Finally, we discover how Atlantic City helped invent "Monopoly", the world's best selling board game.

For over 700 years Dublin lived under foreign domination. Today, however, it is an independent Republic with one of the highest per capita incomes in Europe and a fashionable destination for tourists. Burt Wolf explores the city's Viking history, visits the Guinness brewery to learn how to "pull" a perfect pint, discovers the origin of the Guinness Book of Records, tours the town's classic pubs, and finds out why the ancient Book of Kells is the most valued cultural object in Ireland.

During the 5th century, Saint Patrick arrived in Ireland and changed the course of the nation's history. Burt Wolf investigates the real story of Patrick's life, visits Patrick's original church, treks to the mystic pilgrimage sites of Lough Derg and Croagh Patrick and explores the reasons why St. Patrick became the patron saint of the Irish. He also examines the diaries of the ancient monks who chronicled the attacks of the Vikings.

As boats sail west on the Danube River, from the Austrian city of Vienna, they stop at some of the most magnificent monasteries in Europe. The abbeys at Melk and Klosterneuburg are two of the most famous. Klosterneuburg has been home to a group of Augustinian clergy for over 900 years and contains the Verdun Altar, which is one of the world's most important medieval works of art. Melk was founded as a Roman garrison and became the cradle of Austrian history. Its library contains hundreds of colorfully illustrated books and was probably the inspiration for Umberto Eco's medieval murder mystery, "The Name of the Rose". It also has the only working model of a reusable coffin that was promoted by the King of Austria. Burt Wolf tours both monasteries and stops for lunch at the restaurant of one of Europe's most talented women chefs.

A pilgrimage is a trip to a place that was made holy by a special event, or because it held a magical object, or both. People have been making pilgrimages for tens of thousands of years, and one of the most famous is the road to Santiago across Northern Spain. It is like walking through a continuous museum. You cross two-thousand-year-old bridges that were built by the Romans. You sit down to lunch in the reconstruction of a five-thousand-year-old Iron Age hut. You are in constant contact with the great art and architecture of the Middle Ages. Burt Wolf walks the sacred road, looks at the legend of Santiago, and discovers why, even in modern times, over 200,000 people make the trip every year.

Today, sacred travel is more popular than it has been since the Middle Ages. Each year, millions of people travel to the world's holy sites, and one of the most popular destinations is Santiago de Compostela in the Northwest corner of Spain. Burt Wolf tours its 1, 000-year-old Cathedral and explains the stories behind its art and architecture and watch as an eight-man team swings the world's largest flying incense burner through the structure. We see the world's oldest travel guide, and visit the Hospital of the Kings of Spain that was built in 1499---the world's oldest hotel still in operation. We also call on a jeweler who works in Jet, an ancient gemstone so black that describing it caused the phrase "jet black" to become part of the English language. It is a city that can connect you with the divine.

During the 9th century, the hill town of Siena in central Italy became a major stopping point on the road between Rome and Paris. During the 12th century, the city began building a series of outstanding churches, towers and public squares, and since most of the modern construction has taken place outside the old city, Siena's character remains relatively unspoiled. Burt Wolf tours the narrow winding streets and ancient buildings, looks at the history of St. Catherine and St. Bernardino, investigates a horse race that's been used to settle grudges for over 700 years, and learns how a church, a synagogue or a mosque can help us counter the effects of time.

The town of Assisi, in the center of Italy was built on a hill that has been inhabited for about 4,000 years, and for almost as long it has been a religious center. They say that the stones that were used to build Assisi have absorbed the prayers of the millions of pilgrims that have come there over the centuries. And now, it is believed that the stones radiate a sense of peace and quiet that has a spiritual effect on visitors. Burt Wolf tours the city, discovers the true story of the life of St. Francis and the founding of the Franciscan order, visits the sites sacred to St.Clare, explains the art in the Basilica of St. Francis, where the Italian Renaissance was born, and traces the creation of the Nativity scene.

Collecting things might be part of an innate human desire to own stuff---to gather physical evidence of our lives and the natural world around us, and for thousands of years, people have collected and brought back stuff from their travels. But in 1837, something was created that was easy to collect and gave the collector the sensation of having traveled. It was the first postage stamp. Today, there are over 200 million stamp collectors. Burt Wolf looks at the history of stamp collecting, the most popular stamp ever printed, the most valuable stamp (over one million dollars), and the great forgeries. Then Burt travels to China to find out why the government has an official policy encouraging stamp collecting.

In the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico there is a small adobe sanctuary that is visited by over 300,000 people each year. It is known as the "Lourdes of America", and for thousands of years the land under the church has been considered magical by the local Native Americans. Burt Wolf tours the site, looks into the conflicting legends of its history, and investigates the miraculous healings that have been attributed to its sacred soil.