Note: None of this is medical advice, just a story of what we learned today.
Today was medical day in Athens. We found what we thought was a clinic near our hotel and walked over to it in the morning. Turns out it was just a place to have lab tests done, and the doctor there told us that we had to go to The National School of Public Health for vaccines and malaria pills for India.
When we arrived there, we couldn’t find the entrance, but we walked into a few doors at random (all the signs were in Greek, no English anywhere). The security guards and people we met were all extremely patient with us and friendly, but their directions weren’t always clear. Finally, we found a door and walked in to a hallway with people sitting waiting, followed by another hallway, etc. We awkwardly barged to the front and asked someone if this is the place for vaccines, and he said yes, but you have to wait in line to talk to the doctor. Oops.
The doctor was awesome, very patient and asked about all the countries we would visit, looking them up in her book on vaccines. It turned out that we had all the vaccines recommended (typhoid, tetanus, and Hepatitis A), except she also recommended Japanese Encephalitis. Unfortunately, that vaccine is not available in Greece, but she said we should be able to get it easily in any major city in India. Okay…
Next up, malaria. We told her we might be in Asia for up to a year, and she said, “then you can’t take malaria medication”. Apparently it’s not good to take for more than a month at a time. And, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, although they have malaria, are considered “low risk”, especially outside of monsoon season. A better bet for long-term visits is deet sprays and creams plus mosquito netting for sleep. However, she said we could get a one-month supply of Malarone if we wanted and use it just when we visit “the jungle”. She gave us a small slip with the info and dosage and said we could find it at any pharmacy in Athens.
Yeah, right… Seven pharmacies later in both Piraeus and downtown Athens, and no one has it, and they all said it’s just not available here. We finally insisted at a pharmacy near our hotel that they try to get some please, and he called up the supplier and they only had the children’s formula, 1/10 the dose that we need. But, he said he would put the word out and we should come back tomorrow to see if he was able to get it.
We also stopped by Kassimatis Cycling, the main Specialized dealer in town, and I decided to purchase an entire new bike packing bag. I was able to find the one part I needed back in the US, but with shipping, it was cheaper to simply buy the whole bag in Europe. Sigh, now I have an unbroken seat post, but what do I do with two perfectly good bags? One with all of my country stickers on it…
We also picked up some really loud horns to put on our bikes somewhere (goes well with the clown noses our friend Darin sent us in a care package we received in France!). Another cycle tourist we met in Bulgaria had a nice one on her bike and said it was invaluable in India, and the kids had great fun honking it as well.
and some cheap duffle bags to carry everything to/from the airport. We’ll have to leave these in India when we start cycling, so I really wish we’d been able to find the super-light collapsible duffle bags we started the trip with but left in Portugal. Oh well, we will find a nice new home for them in Mumbai.
Some fun photos from exploring Athens…
Evergreen!
Lots of street vendors selling stuff like these balloons for the kiddos.
I love that there are still lots of books for sale everywhere, and this kitty appreciates them, too.
When we left San Diego, our friend Josemar promised to meet us in Greece, and we are so thankful and happy to see him here!!!
So many silly bathroom signs.
The downtown area has these tiny churches sunken into the ground surrounded (sometimes encased by!) multi-story commercial buildings.
Supposed to be the oldest bar in Athens. We had the best ouzo that we’ve tried in Greece, so far.
Bike art. The street art scene here is one of the best we’ve seen anywhere. We love walking down alleys and finding some cool works.
Like this one.
And this one.
Quite a few buildings with “character”
A beautiful olive tree with some maybe-famous building in the background? I dunno.
Tomorrow, the bikes should be ready to be boxed up, so we expect to spend a few hours at the bike shop getting that done! Shit’s getting real!