Classroom lesson 路 Mount Lebanon - snow and sea in one day馃嚤馃嚙 Lebanon

Mount Lebanon - snow and sea in one day

Mountains so close to the coast that you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon

Snow-capped Mount Lebanon range rising above a coastal town

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Mount Lebanon is the long, tall mountain range that runs almost the whole length of the country. The highest peak is Qurnat as-Sawda, which means 'the Black Peak', at 3,088 metres. The mountains are so close to the Mediterranean Sea that on a sunny winter's day you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon.

Tell me more

The mountain range is about 170 kilometres long and runs from north to south. From up high you can see snow on the peaks, green orchards on the slopes, red-roofed villages further down and the deep blue sea right at the edge. All four of those landscapes fit into about 50 kilometres.

In the winter, the high parts of Mount Lebanon are covered in snow. There are six ski resorts. Children from coastal towns like Beirut sometimes go up for the weekend, see snow for the first time, and then drive home through orange groves in the warm sunshine. Even the name 'Lebanon' comes from an old word for 'white' - because of the snow on the mountain tops.

Lower down, the slopes are full of farms. Lebanese farmers grow apples, peaches, cherries, grapes and olives on terraces - flat steps cut into the mountainside so the rain doesn't wash the soil away. Some terraces have been there for hundreds of years.

The mountains are also full of trees, springs and small waterfalls. There is a famous valley called the Qadisha Valley (the 'Holy Valley'), with a fast river running along the bottom and old monasteries built into the rocky cliffs above. Hiking the valley is one of Lebanon's favourite day trips.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01What would change about your daily life if you could see the sea and snowy mountains from your school?
  2. 02Why might farmers build flat steps (terraces) on a steep hillside?
  3. 03If you could do two completely different things on the same day, what would they be?
Try this

Classroom activity

Draw a Lebanese 'one-day diary' as a comic strip. Morning: skiing on Mount Lebanon. Lunchtime: driving down through farms. Afternoon: swimming in the sea. Evening: eating mezze with family. Then design your own dream 'one-day diary' for where you live.