Week 23: La Mosquée de Paris

This week marked the last blogshoot with the dream team – that is to say, with Joy of A Roommate as my designated photographer. She has gone back to Blighty and to celebrate her last days in France, we decided to have a bit of a girly weekend. With that preamble, it may sound a bit strange when I say that we went to a Mosque, but don't worry – I'll explain all!

The Paris Mosque is situated in the 5^th arrondissement, right next to the Jardin des Plantes and is one of the largest mosques in the country. It was founded in 1926 as a thank you to the 100 000 Muslim "tirailleurs" from the French colonies who died fighting against the Germans.

The Mosque  was built in the mudéjar style – that is, in the style of Moorish architecture which originates from Spain and the other largely-Muslim parts of the Iberian Peninsula - and its minaret stands at 33 meters. My favourite fact about the mosque is that, during the Nazi occupation of France in WW2, it served as a secret refuge for Jews, giving them food, shelter and safe passage with fake Muslim birth certificates.

Along with gorgeous architecture and a great history, the Paris Mosque also has a restaurant, a tea room, a souk and  - most importantly – a hammam.

A Hamam is a Turkish bath, which is the Turkish take on a sauna the main difference being that there is less steam and more water. Quite honestly, Joy of a roommate and I had NO idea what to expect when we headed there, so we were pleasantly surprised to find several warm rooms, with small alcoves where you could sit and chat, fitted with taps and buckets so you could wash/cool yourself down. One of the rooms was more like a traditional sauna, but with a pool of cold water in the middle which was utterly wonderful to take a dip in once you had sweated out all your toxins!

Top - New Look
Trousers - H+M
Shoes - Marks+Spencer
Earrings - Bijou Brigitte

It is a women-only space Monday and then Wednesday-Saturday, with men having free reign on Tuesdays and Sundays and while, at 18 euros, it may sound a little expensive, but it was worth every centime. Massages and other treatments are also offered, but JOAR and I decided to stick to the baths. I came out with skin as soft as a baby’s and feeling so relaxed- a feeling only intensified by the mint tea and baklava we had in the mosque’s tearoom, whilst amusedly watching pigeons devour the leftovers of the table next to us!

As it was JOAR's last weekend AND the hammam was her idea
I thought it was only fair she got some airtime. 

I didn’t want to take any outfit pictures inside the mosque as I felt that would be extremely disrespectful, so this week’s outfit is inspired by the beautiful architecture of the mosque, but all photos of me were taken in the park across the street. I figured the lacy patterns in my beloved H+M trousers mimicked the delicate stonework of the mosque wonderfully, and I tied them up at the bottom to turn them from palazzo pants into harem pants (or, should that be, HAMMAM PANTS – I’m hilarious...) The top is from New Look and one of my favourites. Again, I felt it went well with the mosque’s overall aesthetic, as well as tapping nicely into this season’s love of graphic floral prints. Also did next to nothing to my hair and went for minimal make-up, so what you’re experiencing here is a post-hammam glow (if that’s not a cracking advertisement for this place, I don’t know what is!)

SO there you have it folks, get yourselves down to a hammam near you soon and embrace their steamy relaxation. In the mean time, enjoy the rest of your week and keep your eyes peeled for next week’s Blogpost (which ought to be much more punctual than this week’s!)