Land of Fire Discovery Tour – Gobustan & Absheron

Gobustan Tour: Covers Gobustan Rocks,  Mud Volcanoes, and Absheron Area

The Gobustan tour is a full-day trip and covers the major museums and historical places of Baku city and the Absheron area. It covers the Gobustan rocks, Mud Volcanoes, Fire Temple & Burning Hill. During this full-day Gobustan tour, you will be amazed at Azerbaijan’s history and natural resources.

HIGHLIGHTS OF GOBUSTAN TOUR

Mud Volcanoes

The Gobustan tour starts after picking up the guests from the hotel. Our first destination is Gobustan National Park. When we reach the Gobustan area, we will visit the Mud Volcanoes.

Home to nearly a third of the world’s mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan features a messy, bubbling, and sometimes explosive landscape. Mud volcanoes are closely associated with hydrocarbon and petrochemical stores underground, so gas tries to escape to the surface. A few of these gas leaks are constantly on fire, shooting small perpetual flames into the air. Some believe these perpetual flames are strongly connected to the appearance of the Zoroastrian religion in Azerbaijan some 2,000 years ago.

Every 20 years or so, one of these mud/gas volcanoes will ignite deep below the surface and create a massive explosion. While generally not dangerous to people, as they are far outside of most city centers, it is believed that six shepherds and over 2,000 sheep were killed by a mud volcano in Bozdagh, Azerbaijan.

Gobustan Museum and Rocks

After coming back from the mud volcanoes, we visit the Gobustan Rock Art (open-air museum).

Gobustan State Reserve, located west of the settlement of Gobustan, about 40 miles southwest of the center of Baku, was established in 1966 when the region was declared a national historic landmark of Azerbaijan in an attempt to preserve the ancient carvings, mud volcanoes, and gas-stones in the region.

Gobustan State Reserve is very rich in archeological monuments; the reserve has more than 6,000 rock carvings, which depict primitive people, animals, battle scenes, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, pictures of the sun and stars, on average dating back to 5,000-20,000 years.

At the end of the Gobustan tour, we head back to the city and explore other places which are included in our itinerary.

Fire Temple (Ateshgah)

The Baku Ateshgah (from Persian: آتشگاه‎, Atashgāh, Azerbaijani: Atəşgah), often called the “Fire Temple of Baku,” is a castle-like religious temple in Surakhani town, a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan.

According to Persian inscriptions, the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian place of worship. “Atash” (آتش) is the Persian word for fire. The pentagonal complex, which has a courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a tetrapolar in the middle, was built during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was abandoned in the late 19th century, probably due to the dwindling Indian population in the area.

Burning Mountain (Yanardagh)

Yanar Dag (Azerbaijani: Yanar Dağ, meaning “burning mountain”) is a natural gas fire that blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku. Unlike mud volcanoes, the Yanar Dag flame burns fairly steadily, as it involves a steady seep of gas from the subsurface. It is claimed that the Yanar Dag flame was only noted when accidentally lit by a shepherd in the 1950s.

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center

The final destination of the Gobustan Tour will be the spectacular Heydar Aliyev Center, designed by the renowned architect Zaha Hadid. Completed in 2012, the iconic building covers an area of approximately 57,500 m². Since we visit the center in the evening, after 5–6 PM, you will only be able to admire and photograph it from the outside.

PRICE OPTIONS

Children Policy

• Children under 6 years will be allowed Free Of Charge
• Children between 6 – 12 years old; pay 50% of the tour price per person
• Children 13 or older are considered adults and pay the normal price.