“I still get lost,” Mehdi Bennani admits as he accompanies me through the ancient heart of Fes. With its 13 mighty gates, eight miles of sandstone walls, pricked with holes like shortbread, and some 10,000 alleys, I’m not surprised.

Just north of the Middle Atlas Mountains, this former Moroccan capital and imperial city is home to the mother of all medinas, dating from the ninth century. A World Heritage site, it is the largest car-free urban area in the world, where 270,000 Fassis dwell in an enclosed space the size of London’s Richmond Park – and it is quite acceptable to yell, “Move your ass!”

Our guide is Houssam Laassiri, ever-smiling chef at Palais Amani, an enchanting 14-room riad on the medina’s northern edge. Born within its time-scarred walls, he knows its secret squares and dog-leg shortcuts inside out, and leads us Pied Piper-like through the maze as part of a half-day cookery course that will teach us how to prepare classic Moroccan dishes such as harira soup, baghrir (Berber pancakes) and fish tajine. Mehdi has come along to translate, clearly relishing the chance to slip away from the reception desk and show us his home town…[Full Story]