The site of the 490 BC battle and the start of the modern race — the burial mound of the Greeks, the small museum, the rowing lake.
The plain of Marathon is the wide flat coastal plain forty-two kilometres north-east of Athens where, in September 490 BC, ten thousand Athenian and Plataean hoplites defeated a Persian invasion force of perhaps twenty-five thousand — the battle that, in the school version, saved Greek democracy and made the West.
The plain itself is unspectacular — flat farmland, a long crescent beach, a few small holiday villages — but the historical density is profound. The Tymvos Marathonos (the burial mound of the 192 Athenian dead) sits in the middle of the plain, a 12-metre-high earthen tumulus thrown up over the cremated bones, with a small information centre and a few inscribed plinths. The Archaeological Museum of Marathon (a small Stamatakis-built museum two kilometres west) holds the battle helmet of Miltiades, the early-classical funerary stelai, and the late-classical relief of the Athenian eponymous hero Marathon. The Plataean Tymvos is a kilometre away. The Schinias rowing lake (built for the 2004 Olympics, on the north edge of the plain) is now a Natura 2000 reserve. The classic 26-mile Marathon-to-Athens race route runs from the start line in the village of Marathonas (next to the modern Olympic flame altar) to the Pananthenaic Stadium in Athens — run as the Athens Marathon: The Authentic every November.
A Marathon morning.
Fifty minutes north-east of central Athens via Kifisias and the coastal road.
Forty minutes at the Tymvos — the tumulus, the small information room, the Pheidias-attributed kouros copy.
Forty-five minutes — Miltiades's helmet, the stelai, the small Stamatakis building.
Twenty minutes either way — the cliff-top temple, or the long sandy beach.
Pre-booked terrace table at the small beach taverna; fresh fish, salad, country wine; €30 per head.
Half-hour back via Markopoulo (a quick stop at one of the cellars if open); dinner in Athens.
Within twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes' drive north-east — the cliff-top Temple of Nemesis. Detail on the Rhamnous page.
Five minutes' drive — the long sandy beach and the Olympic rowing lake.
Forty-minute drive west — the former royal estate.
Half-hour drive south-west — the monastery and quarries.
Half-hour drive south — the eleven cellars.
Tell us a little about the trip you want — pace, who's coming, how you'd like to spend your mornings. We'll build the days.
