Havens - Paris e-guide: The Travel Guide with its Own Website - page 158

Havens

17 A5

La Grande Mosquée exotic baths
39 rue Geoffroy St-Hilaire, 5ème • 01 45 35 97 33
www.mosquee-de-paris.org Baths open 2-9 Fri, 10-9
Sat-Wed (women only: Mon, Wed, Fri & Sat; men only: Tue &
Sun); café open 9am-11pm; restaurant open lunch & dinner
daily; tours 9-noon & 2-6 Sat-Thu

scrubbed and massaged to within an inch of your
life, then this is definitely the place for you. After a
session in the searing sauna, followed by a gommage
(body scrub) and then a spirited and oily massage,
you can stretch out on a cushion in the lush purple-
and-gold rotunda and sip some sweet mint tea as
Arabic music and hushed voices float around you -
a scene straight out of Ingres's Le Bain Turc .
In winter, the hammam 's the thing, but in summer,
sipping tea in the shade of the fig tree on the blue-tiled
terrace of the Café Maure can be equally appealing.
Alternatively, drop on to one of the richly coloured
banquettes inside, under the amazing coffered ceiling,
and watch waiters dart about with trays of mint tea
and honey-drizzled cakes, or tureens of couscous
destined for the restaurant. It's another world.

Built in the 1920s, the Paris mosque - with its
immaculate white walls and intricately carved wood-
work - was inspired by the famous Alhambra in Spain
and the BouInania Mosque in Morocco. It's an environ-
ment where tranquillity reigns, from the grand patio
and sunken garden through to the tiled minaret and
the prayer room, all of which (except the latter) can
be visited on a guided tour. The hammam (Turkish
baths) and the tearoom, however, are the main draws
here. And if your idea of relaxation is being steamed,