By: Ben
This particular leg of our trip, I have no idea as to why my group decided to write about Mecca as if we could actually enter the city. Since we are not Muslim, any attempt to enter the city would result in severe penalty, up to and including imprisonment and death. Usual penalty is immediate deportation. Documentation of proof of membership of the Muslim religion is requested for entry to the city, and often checked throughout the city. Forged documents are available to allow access, but possession of these forged documents can result in severe penalties. Through even your most basic searches about the city, visitors are warned that they cannot enter the city.
Even if we were to enter the city, the conditions of the city would be highly dangerous to us due to religious rules, crime, beggars, and drinkable water. The culture of the city mandates specific ways to dress, worshipping practices, general law practices, and social practices that we would be unfamiliar with. It would be extremely difficult to find accommodations, and most of the city's water is undrinkable for Westerners. Overall, this would have been one of the most uncomfortable and potentially unsafe weeks of our vacation.
Once we would have learned this information, we would have either picked another destination, or skipped to our next destination, Accra, Ghana. Based on the fact that we still have a large amount of cash left to finance our trip, there are a wide variety of beautiful, historical, and interesting sites in this part of the world that we could travel to in order to replace our week in Mecca.
In order to simplify postings for the sake of our blog, I will assume that we traveled straight from Alexandria to Accra.
Sample websites listing the dangers and rules of the city of Meccca:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Middle_East/Saudi_Arabia/Mintaqat_Makkah/Mecca-1806764/Warnings_or_Dangers-Mecca-BR-1.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Mecca
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