About four kilometres west of Aley, in the village of Bsous, a restored 19th-century silk factory now houses a small but excellent museum about Lebanon's silk trade. The Mount Lebanon silk industry was a major source of wealth in the 1800s — French capital, mulberry trees on every terrace, and tens of thousands of women winding silk in small filatures. The Bsous building is one of the few that survived the industry's collapse after the First World War.
The museum covers the whole silk cycle, from mulberry leaf and silkworm to finished cloth, with the original boilers and basins still in place. The gardens — restored mulberry orchards and a stone terrace overlooking the valley — are arguably the better half of the visit, and the small cafe in the garden does a good simple lunch. Closed Mondays; check seasonal opening hours before driving over.