Built in the 1920s in a Hispano-Moorish style as a memorial to the Muslim soldiers who died for France in the First World War, the Grande Mosquée is a pocket of Andalusia in the 5th: a green-tiled minaret, courtyards of zellige tilework and cedar, and a quiet planted garden. Parts of the complex are open to visitors outside prayer times.
For most travellers the draw is the tearoom and adjoining restaurant on the Rue Daubenton side, open to all — sweet mint tea and honey-soaked pastries under fig trees, sparrows everywhere, a hammam alongside. It is one of the most atmospheric and inexpensive breaks in the quarter, a short walk from the Jardin des Plantes and Rue Mouffetard.