BEAUTIFUL BAKU
BEAUTIFUL BAKU
DAY 1 AIRPORT-HOTEL
After the checking at the passport control and customs you will be met by local guide and transferred to your hotel.
DAY 2 Baku city tour & Icheri Sheher (Walking Tour of the Old Town)
Baku sightseeing tour. Visit to Memory Alley – “Shehidler Khiyabany”, panoramic view of Baku city from the park. Boat trip in Caspian Sea Baku bay. Bay of Baku is the natural harbor for Azerbaijan’s capital city and the main port of Baku. It is located in a wide curve on the southern side of the Absheron Peninsula, sheltered by the Baku archipelago. The excursion gives you a great opportunity to have a splendid panoramic view of Baku . Your guide will explain you the history and other peculiarities worth knowing of the Caspian Sea. Visit to medieval fortress of Old Baku - “Icheri Sheher”15-17 c.c., “Maiden Tower “– 9 c., the Complex of Shirvan Shahs’ Palace -15 c. medieval CaravanSaray -15c., medieval Markets square, handmade carpet’s workshop art studio. The Old Town, called Ichari Shahar in Azerbaijani, extends from the curve of the Baku Bay through the hills behind it, and much of the area is closed to vehicular traffic.
After lunch to leave Baku for Gobustan. Gobustan (the territory of Gobu) is famous for its archeological monuments. Travel 30 miles southwest of Baku along the Caspian shore to the volcanic desert, where rocks covered with drawings stand amidst chaos of stones and mountains. There are more than 4,000 rock drawings left by artists of the Neolithic period. Besides being famous for the petroglyphs the Gobustan are also has some amazing landscape, particularly an area filled with mud volcanoes, which provide a quasi-lunar horizon. You can find the most spectacular mud volcanoes about 7km south of Gobustan near the road to Alat.
Overnight in Baku
Day 3. Absheron Peninsula
THE LAND OF FIRE AND CASTLES
Tour of the Ateshgyakh Fire-Worshippers’ Temple, 3 hours. The Ateshgyakh Fire
Worshippers’ Temple (18th century) is located
within Greater Baku in the village of Surakhany (9 miles from Baku). And only the place where the fires used to burn still remains in the memory of the people under the name of Ateshgyakh (home of fire). Today the temple is a unique monument of world culture.
You will visit the oldest oil producing fields on the Absheron Peninsula, observe the natural gas outlets (Yanar Dag – “Burning Mountain”) and mud volcanoes together with the current on- and offshore fields.
The Absheron peninsula, being a part of Shirvan, was the site for a peculiar type of defensive structures to have originated and developed due to special social, historical and natural conditions. Need for protection from foreign invaders attracted by natural resources induced local feudal lords to erect fortified castles some of which stand today, too.
There are two of them in Mardakan, one with a round tower, and a larger one with a square tower. The larger castle dates from the 14th century and is immediately visible as you approach Mardakan, although it is not built on a hill. This tower is about 25 m tall and has five floors. Within the walls there is a well and receptacles hewn from the rock for storing grain. Near the castle is the 15th century Tuba-Shakha mosque, containing an exhibition dedicated to the castles in the Absheron peninsula. The smaller castle was built in the 13 th century and its design is similar to that of the Ramana castle (between Baku and the airport): a round central tower surrounded by a wall. There is a forth castle at Nardaran. 14th century castle, located in the northern extreme of town, with a round tower surrounded by walls, nearby you can enjoy a nice view of the Caspian Sea.
Day 4. Day at leisure
Day at leisure to explore yourself.
Day 5. Departure
Transfer to the airport