Rafina () is a suburban port town located on the eastern coast of Attica in Greece. It has a population of 13,091 inhabitants (2011 census). Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 18.979 km2. It is part of Athens metropolitan area. Geography Rafina lies on the Aegean Sea coast, east of the Penteli mountains and northeast of the Mesogaia plain. It is north of Artemida, south of Nea Makri and east of Athens city centre. The municipal unit of Rafina contains, besides the city itself, a large portion of the surrounding area, which is mostly woodland and farmland. The only other town is Kallitechnoupoli with a population of 923. The town can be accessed through Greek National Road 54 (Athens – Rafina), Greek National Road 83 (Athens – Marathon – Rafina) and Greek National Road 85 (Lavrio – Rafina). Rafina is a port town serving ferries to the southern part of Euboea as well as most of the Cyclades. Its port acts as the second port of Athens, after the Athens's port of Piraeus, but it will probably be superseded by the one in Lavrio, which is currently being expanded. History Prehistory Rafina was inhabited in prehistoric times. The oldest finds are from the Neolithic Period, and a large number date from the Bronze Age (3,000 years B.C.), discovered by the excavations of Dimitrios Theocharis in '50s: a settlement on the hill above the port, bronze processing facilities near the delta of the Great Stream, and a Protohelladic Akropolis in the cape of Askitario which you can visit today. Antiquity and later In ancient times, Rafina was one of the 100 demes of Athens as defined by Kleisthenes. The municipality was called "Araphen", after its first ruler, Arafinas, who was one of the 100 heroes of Attica. In the municipality of Arafin, lived one of the ten breeds of Attica. Also, the area near the sea till Artemida, called "Halae Araphenides" is where Orestis and Ifigenia arrived from Tavrida according to the myth. From later centuries, excavations discovered Roman baths and the remains of a Byzantine Church. Modern period and settlement of Triglian refugees After the defeat of the Greek army in the Minor Asia (1922), many refugees arrived in Greece. Some of them arrived in the