I don't know why we thought full nudity would be allowed. I mean, its in a mosque. But we had both gone there when we visited Paris in college and I think we remembered that you could do the full naked thing then. Or maybe we just thought that because we remembered it feeling awkward, and so we were probably naked?
I'm not sure.
But in any case, the Hammam at the Mosque de Paris is really an experience not to be missed when you come to Paris, if you like new experiences and inexpensive, relaxing spa treatments. Both of which I do.
A Hammam, for my American readers, is the Turkish version of a steam bath, which means its kind of a like a communal sauna except a wet, but not dry heat (I'm not sure why I think you'll be more familiar with a communal sauna here. Maybe its because I'm Scandinavian...) Anyway, its basically a series of rooms that are heated with steam to varying degrees of hot, super hot, and hard-to-breath hot, with pools of cool water you can splash on yourself when you get overheated, and cold cold showers you can dunk yourself in afterwards.Because this Hammam is in a mosque, it is super gorgeous:
The Hammam is segregated by day, four days a week for women and two for men, and one that's "family day". You can just get a straight admission to the steam, where you can hang out for as long as you like (or dare) gradually getting more and more relaxed and noodle-like. But you can also get, as a package with your admission, a gommage, which is a kind of industrial strength exfoliating treatment, and a rubdown from some grandmotherly turkish ladies in crisp white uniforms. The whole thing is about 50 Euros, which while not the cheapest of the cheap, is pretty good for a unique Paris spa experience.
But here's the thing. Like with a lot of things in Paris, no one is going to tell you how this works beforehand. Unlike in US spas - at least the ones I've been to - where they take a little time to orient you and sometimes even give you a little tour of the place, the Hammam must be such a regular thing for some people that they just assume you know what you're doing. Either that, or it's their entertainment to watch the newbies stumble about. So I will impart some tips on the experience, after the jump:
