Sacred Travel: On the Road Again As the 21st century nears, people are rediscovering the art of pilgrimage Journey to the End of the World Hiking the hard road to a new self Soul Attractions 10 sites for modern seekers Mecca The Turning of Arrival Germany Mother of Silence Scotland Return to Long Ago Jerusalem Surfing to the Wailing Wall Graceland Land of the Pilgrims?

In 1972 only 52 pilgrims from the Americas traveled to Mecca for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage required of every able Muslim at least once in a lifetime. But in 1990, when Californian Michael Wolfe--a new convert to Islam--made the trip, he found more Americans than that in his hotel. That was the first of many surprises on his mind-opening journey.

Mecca lies 50 miles east of the Red Sea. It is a modern city of a half million people, splashing up the rim of a granite bowl a thousand feet above sea level. Barren peaks surround it on every side, but there are passes: one leading north toward Syria; one south to Yemen; one west to the coast. A fourth, a ring road, runs east to Ta'if. By day, the hills form a volcanic monotony. At night, they blend into the sky and disappear.

The first thing I discovered about Mecca was that I'd been spelling the name wrong. West of town we passed a fluorescent sign with glowing arrows and six letters sparkling in the headlights: makkah. The orthography threw me. With its two hard c's, Mecca is the most loaded Arabic word in the English language. Without them, what is it? No one here said MEH-ka. They said ma-KAH. English-speaking Meccans insisted on it. "Do you pronounce Manhattan men-HET-en?" one of them asked me.