ABSHERON PENINSULA & GOBUSTAN PETROGLYPHS

We will start out tour by visiting the Gobustan petroglyphs. The meaning of Gobustan in local language means “ravine land”. Caves and rock outcroppings surround the region. Settled since the Stone Age, the area is one of the main and most ancient museums of rock engravings (petroglyphs) in the world. The most ancient petroglyphs identified here are considered as belonging to the 10-8th century BC. However, it is assumed that humans populated this area even earlier and Gobustan was one of the cradles of civilisations.

 Duration: 8-9 hours

Type: car/walking tour

Worth taking with you: Camera

Date: All the year round

• We will continue our tour by visiting Yanar Dag.It is located 25 km to the north from Baku, in Mehemmedi village. A 10 m long wall of fire is never extinguishes. It is burning continuously alongside the edge of the hill. The scene is naturally is at its most spectacular at night. Tourists and locals alike can view the fire from a nearby tea house during the nights. The height of the flames changes, but in some moments it reach to 3 metres (9.8 ft) from the ground. The famous French writer Alexandre Dumas also witnessed these flames. He expressed his feelings: “This is absolutely the most interesting and fascinating thing, which can be seen nowhere else". Even today, the flames never fail to amaze tourists and locals alike, especially during the night times.
• Then, we will continue to other Zoroastrian site of Absheron called Ateshgakh temple.
• The temple is in Surakhany district of Baku, about 30 km. east far from the town center. It was built over a pocket of natural gas that fuelled a vent providing an ‘eternal’ fire. Ateshgah temple has a mixture of Indian and Azerbaijani architectural styles. It is a surviving proof of historical relationship between these countries.
• After, we will continue our tour to forty km. from Baku, to Gala
• Gala Museum is a well-known open-air historical and ethnographic museum. The museum, founded in 2008 at an archaeological site located in the same-name village, is dedicated to the history of the Absheron Peninsula. Besides, here, you can see how the Azerbaijani people lived, what they ate and drank and how they managed a household over the period from the XVI to XIX centuries. We will end our Absheron Peninsula tour here and we will drop you back to your hotel or any other location in Baku convenient for you.

Distance : Baku- Gobustan- 70 км. Gobustan-Ateshgakh - 80 км. Ateshgakh-Yanar dag – 25 км., Yanar dag-Baku– 20 км.

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