Another of the links in the Greek Silk Road chain is in Crete, where there there is a longstanding tradition of sericulture going back to the deep past. Mournies was a  small village 4km from the centre of Chania which has now been absorbed into the suburbs. The local name Mournies means mulberry trees, which thrived in the area and gave their name to the village. In 1926 Ioannis Athanasiadis or Metaxas

(so called because of his involvement with silk weaving) of Asia Minor origin, opened the first silk factory in Mournies, housing it in the Byzantine monastery of Agios Eleftherios. In the 1950s it was moved to a site on Herakleio Avenue and Elyro, where it continued to function until 1965. Many of the residents of Mournies were employed in the factory, largely women. Today all that remains is part of the storerooms.