The tour started with a sightseeing drive through the town. In reality we were already en
route but we had to pass through the town and the guide gave a commentary on all that we passed.
As it was quite a long drive to the
Plokstine missile base*,
we had an extensive explanation of the history and culture of Lithunania and what it was
like under the Russian occupation (protection!)
during the cold war. The area where the site was, was in a
national park, and we first made a
short photo stop (Google
maps) at a lake. The missile site was quite close and when we arrived there was quite a dash
for the toilets before we began our tour, for which we had a specialist guide.
* | Lat | Long | location |
The coordinates given for the site are wrong, the correct ones are:-
| 56.030318 | 21.906410 | for the museum |
56.032290 | 21.906308 | for the missile site |
and this is the
link
to the site on google earth.
We started off in the main control center in the middle of the site having
photographed the top of the silos which were located round the control room at the four
corners of a square. We visited three rooms (about 1/6th) on the top floor
and three or four on the second (lower) floor. We then went along a tunnel
to the top of one of the silos. We were warned to take care we didn't drop
anything down the silo as they could no longer get to the bottom so anything that went
down would stay there. There had been lifts for each silo but they were
no longer working. The site cost as much to build as a small town, but no
missiles were ever fired, not even test firings. Once the U.S. stopped
using planes for reconnaisance, and switched to satellites, the site was abandoned; the
missiles removed but the equipment was left there. MAD continued with
nuclear submarines. Once Lithunania became independant the locals found
the site and any valuable equiment was stripped, including any easily removable metal to
be sold as scrap, thus destroying the site. When the national park was formed
and they took over the site, with the help of the European Union the site was restored
as a cold war museum, and is now one of only four such cold war sites remaining.
On the way back we passed a field that had been recently cut for hay which was full of storks and
stopped for a photo opportunity. We had been seeing storks all day atop their nest
platforms. We stopped for lunch at a traditional
Lithuanian inn which has a good reputation as the Klaipedans drive out to eat there. (I couldn't
find it on Google, but it is marked on my map). We had a cold red beet soup, different to
borscht, served with dill potatoes followed by cepelinai
and potato pancakes with stuffing (which the guide called gravy?) and sour cream. Some people
were not keen on the food but we found it delicious. We had further commentary on the way back,
and some asked to be dropped off in the old town for shopping. As it was a ten minute walk
back to the ship and there was only half an hour before gangway-up, in the event only two got off,
although about ten had originally requested it. The couple who did get off in town made it
back with 5 minutes to spare, but the last coach was one minute late in getting back.
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