Today was filled with small towns, fun markets and awesome demonstrations. We started our morning taking the free bikes at our hostel to the nearby town, Abcoude, where there was a small market with a bunch of great fruit and (cheap) bags of freshly roasted pistachios and cashews.
In th afternoon, we took a guided tour to the neighboring villages of Zaanse Schans, Marken and Volendam. Zaanse Schans is home to fill functioning windmills that produce wood, pigment, and more. We heard from the miller at the wood mill and sampled different chocolates at the cocoa shop.
Our time in Marken (it's an island!) was short, but beautiful nonetheless. We visited a clog factory and watched them make a fresh set of clogs before our very eyes. From here, we walked through the town, over the canals, and into the harbor area, where we caught a boat hat would take us to our next stop - Volendam.
Volendam was spent learning how to make cheese at the cheese factory and eating our snacks from the market on the pier. I also got attacked by a bird.
We spent our evening with Richard, our host for the night, learning about all of his travels to Asia and snacking on chips.