Drinking Water and Gluten Free availabilit

I don't have first hand knowledge of gluten free in Greece, but I would suggest your husband carry a card, written in Greek, which describes his allergy to show at restaurants so there is no confusion.

Good morning. I am not a seasoned traveler, my family and I will be traveling to Italy in the fall for the very first time. I cannot answer your questions but I wanted to share something I found on another thread that may help your husband while you travel. You may want to go to the website “equal eats” and purchase a dietary card (Celiac) that you can present to the wait staff wherever you dine. One side of the card is printed in english and the other side (you choose) can be printed in Greek. My daughter has Celiac Disease and we purchased a card for her as well as one for her fiance and spent $12.00 dollars for both cards, actually I ordered doubles. Their prices are very reasonable. After you place your order they will also send you a link to download to your phone if you’d rather present it that way. Good luck!

To be on the "safe side" ALWAYS drink bottled water.
Your husband will have no problems finding good food to eat in Greece as long as he doesn't order anything made with grains.

We go the safe route and use bottles of water. We carry reusable bottles that flatten and refill them from huge bottles of water we purchase at the grocery store.

I have celiac. My tricks are to learn the sentence “I have celiac” in whatever language is appropriate and find local grocery stores or GF bakeries. A search before your trip for “gluten free in (city name)” always brings up possibilities.

The travel cards are helpful as well, should you wish to use them.

Most trips, I focus on eating eggs, cheese, salads, fruit, nuts, and yogurt, which are all naturally gluten-free. Ice cream, gelato, and chocolate can be your sweets should you be able to eat those foods. I always carry GF protein bars or nuts for those times when nothing is available.

I've traveled extensively over 30 years and never had GI issues from any water.

The amount of plastic used by extraordinarily profitable multi-national corporations to sell water... THAT'S what turns my stomach.

My son has celiac. We did not have any trouble in Greece, but specifically labeled GF food was rare in restaurants - not many had GF pasta or bread, or labeled their foods as specifically GF. But plenty of grilled meat and fish dishes, salads, vegetables, and so forth were naturally gluten free and available everywhere. Bringing a paper to explain it, in Greek and English, is helpful. You can find these free online. I'd say half of the waiters we talked to were familiar, and half were not, but all were more than happy to help. My son, being a pre-teen at the time, pretty much lived on chicken souvlaki, but there were plenty of other choices! Your issue will come with anything with ground meat (meatballs, moussaka, even some burgers), because mixing breadcrumbs into the meat is common. Also, desserts - ice cream and yogurts are usually fine, but many of the delicious pastries are off-limits unless you find a specific gluten free bakery. We found that most french fries were fried in their own fryer - no cross-contamination - but you should confirm that. We did not run into flour-thickened sauces or anything like that, not to say they don't exist, but we leaned more to simpler dishes, the aforementioned grilled meats and salads.

rGluten free food like bread, pasta, flour, is available in grocery stores if you want to get picnic supplies or cook but that's not required.

The only place in Greece where I've heard of issues with tap water is the island of Skiathos, where it was said back in the 1980s that the water was safe but salty-tasting. I have no recent information.

The CDC has a travel-health page for every country that highlights local issues. The one for Greece suggests bottled water only for "remote areas that are served by unregulated water sources such as private wells".

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/greece

In Greece, I've been drinking tap water (with or without Ouzo) for 30 years, never had a problem with the water (and I'm still alive).