ABSTRACT
T he plain of Marathon 195 lies on a broad bay with long sandy beaches,
which are much used by Athenians in the summer. The beaches extend over many kilometres from Ay. Andreas in the south to Schinias in the
north; the sea here becomes warm very quickly because the water is very shallow. At Schinias light pine woods stretch almost into the sea and offer welcome shade. In the north the bay is bounded by a narrow peninsula, the Kynosoura (‘dog’s tail’), on which the remains of fortification walls have been found; in the west the foothills of Pentelikon border the wide plain. This fertile area is intensively farmed today; next to the usual silver-green olive trees, vegetable fields and many greenhouses and mushroom farms can be seen.
