Fes, Morocco

The Fas el Bali is one of the most fascinating places I have ever been. It was everything I was hoping it would be: complicated alleys, unexpected bursts of colour, secretive terraces, authentic lifestyles and incomprehensible chaos. It didn't take much to get off the well-beaten tourist path, but it did take a lot to convince our little troop of wannabe guides that we had no end-goal, indeed we wanted to be lost. The young entrepreneurs begged (in a surprising array of languages) to show us where we were going, or even where we had come from if that was what we desired. Eventually we had to succumb to the offers of help to find the well-hidden leather tanneries.