Baku and Absheron peninsula tour
Tour Description
Day 1:
Description: Explore Azerbaijan’s capital, including the medieval fortress of Icheri Sheher(Old City), the Shirvanshahs’ Palace and the 15th century caravanserais, Shemakha Gates, The symbol of Baku Maiden Tower (VI - XII century), Juma Mosque, Panorama of Baku, Shehidler Khiyabany (the highest point of Baku, good panoramic view of Baku bay). Oil boom architectural buildings.
Day 2:
Description: From Baku we head to the bizarre mud volcanoes at Gobustan, and see the numerous Neolithic rock drawings nearby.
Gobustan : Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, Gobustan is rich in archaeological monuments with over 6000 rock engravings dating back as much as 40,000 years. The petroglyphs depict ceremonial dances, battles, warriors, boats and many other scenes, as well as more recent Roman ‘graffiti’ from the 1st century. But Gobustan is equally well known for its natural phenomena – mud volcanoes that bubble and belch muddy bubbles from their cones, an incredibly atmospheric place and unlike anything you will have seen before. Azerbaijan is home to more than half of the mud volcanoes in the world – nearly 400 of them sit within its borders. Roughly every twenty years one of them explodes with great gusto, showering tons of mud in the surrounding area. Mud volcanoes.
Yanardag : The burning hillside of Yanardag is one of Azerbaijan’s most bizarre sites. From beneath the earth flammable gases seep through the porous sandstone, erupting into flames that can reach 10 metres in height – the flames are never extinguished, been lit accidentally in 1958. Most of the world’s ‘flaming mountains’ are situated in Azerbaijan and Marco Polo recorded similar sights nearby he passed through the region.
