Market Friday: Breakfast, boat trip and museum visit for $10

I decided to do a little experiment today. You all know that tourist services are expensive. All those endless excursions, souvenirs, café lunches and picnic croissants... when you go on vacation somewhere, money from your pockets flows into the hands of enterprising locals in full flow.

But very often you pay too much for lack of information. A trip on a similar bus, but without the beautiful labels on the windows, can cost half as much. Breakfast at a cafe, which is familiar only to residents of neighboring houses, will be not only cheaper, but also tastier. As for small museums or author tours, they are usually known only to relatives and friends of the organizers, and you can find out about such events except completely by accident.

Well-bred dogs are allowed in

I decided to check today: what do I get if I know such cheap and interesting places? What can I hope to do with $10 in cash in my pocket? Or rather, having some cash rubles equivalent to $10 - paying directly with green banknotes won't work.

I looked at the website - an aggregator of information from banks, to find out where I could sell cash dollars at a higher price. The best price for today - 64 rubles per dollar, for 10 dollars I will get 640 rubles. That is the amount I will count on! For the convenience of the story, I will write prices in rubles and rounded prices in dollars at the same time.

I'll start with breakfast. To be honest, not only did I have time to eat breakfast at home this morning, but I also spent a few hours doing stuff. I was running around different offices doing paperwork. So it's more about the second breakfast. I decided that cheesecakes (curd fritters) would be great for a second breakfast: they are tasty, healthy and easy to digest. It's perfect before a long walk. To make it easier for you to understand the prices, I can tell you in advance that if I had bought cottage cheese in a store and made cheesecakes at home, it would have cost me about 130 rubles (about $2) to make 15 cheesecakes.

Any diet is primarily a drain on the nervous system

Skinny people are easier to kidnap. Don't put yourself at risk! Eat properly!

I left the Document Center and went to a nearby cafe. Attractive interior, tables in the street... my enthusiasm ended after getting acquainted with the prices, a portion of cheesecakes in this cafe costs 270 rubles, plus a drink 200 rubles, the total is 470, which is almost 7.5 dollars... After such a breakfast I would have to limit my sightseeing day to a ride on the city bus!

The window in the cafe

Fortunately, I remembered that there is a small family cafe on one of the neighboring streets. The cheesecakes in this café taste exactly the same as if you made them at home - lush, soft, with a real curd flavour... A portion of two cheesecakes costs 110 rubles, a cup of Americano coffee costs 65 rubles. In total I spent 175 rubles (about $2.7). I chose a table by the window and had breakfast with a view of the city.

A view of Vasilevsky Island. I'm not used to photographing from the boat and the horizon is tilted

After breakfast I decided to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The date of the beginning of the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress is considered the date of the founding of St. Petersburg, it is a beautiful architectural monument and at the same time a museum of the history of the city. You can go by subway or by bus, but I'm acting like a tourist today! That's why I'm going by boat.

The Palace Bridge is decorated with flags on the 350th anniversary of Peter the Great's birth

View of the Winter Palace (The Hermitage Museum)

Water excursions in our city are quite expensive. A boat trip on the rivers will cost you about 1,000 rubles ($15). But such prices are valid for sightseeing motorboats and long walks. I know another way to get a boat ride. One of St. Petersburg's bridges is now under repair, and a boat service is in operation to cross the Neva River. A boat trip from my side of the Neva to the pier near the Peter and Paul Fortress will cost me 100 rubles ($1.50).

Tourists wishing to cross in the opposite direction are already waiting at the pier

The only difficulty is that you have to know about this type of transport, otherwise you can not find a small boat. The pier, from which my boat departs, serves at the same time to send tourist boats to different destinations. Back is easier to cross, there is a separate small pier for such boats near the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Beach of Peter and Paul Fortress

One of the streets in the fortress

Entrance to the fortress is free. You can walk around the fortress or sit on the beach absolutely free. But if you want to visit the museum, climb the walls or go down into the underground passage, you have to buy a ticket.

Start of walking route across roofs of Peter and Paul Fortress

Entrance to the underground passage

Museum cash desk

On the museum site you will be offered to buy a single ticket to visit all exhibitions, it costs 750 rubles ($ 12). But you can do otherwise. Near the entrance to the fortress is an information center, where you can buy a ticket to the particular museum that you decided to visit. This is not only a savings, but also a smart choice - it is impossible to go around all the museums in one day! Moreover, some museum exhibits are waiting for tourists right in the streets of the fortress and to see them you do not need to buy tickets.

Screw press for strike coins at the entrance to the Museum of Money

Museum information boards

Wax figure at the entrance to the "Siberian left-handed man" exhibition

Climbing the scaffold is strictly prohibited!

My tourist day is coming to a close. Only one task remains: to buy a souvenir to remember me by. These days there is a celebration of the 350th anniversary of the birth of Russian Emperor Peter the Great, and there are more souvenir sellers in the fortress than usual. Near the entrance to the fortress, several craftsmen have set up their stalls. I carefully study the assortment to choose a nice trifle as a keepsake. Clay figures - whistles in the shape of cats, fish and birds attract my attention. Whistles - mosquitoes cost only 200 rubles ($3).

Total, my expenses:

Breakfast 175 rubles ($2.73)
Boat 100 rubles ($1.56)
A museum ticket 200 rubles ($3.1)
Souvenir for memory 200 rubles ($3.1)

A total of 675 rubles, that is $10.5. And another 60 cents would have to pay for the bus to get home. It turned out a little more expensive than I had planned, but I don't know what can be crossed off my list!

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia

This is my entry for the #marketfriday challenge by @dswigle.