Breakfast at the hotel.
After breakfast, we will start to discover Baku city. Sightseeing tour of Baku with a visit and tour of the monumental, historical and architectural monuments of the city: you will see a panorama of the city of Baku Bay and the Upland Park.
Then follows the visiting of the old city *Icherisheher-the inner city*. Icherisheher means the inner city. It was called the inner after the oil boom of the middle of the XIX century when the city stopped to hold in defense walls and left its limit. Several tens of the historical- architectural monuments at the same time the Shirvanshakhs Palace, the symbol of Baku city The Maiden Tower, the place of merchant’s rest Karavansaray are concentrated in the Icherisheher, with the square of 22 hectares. Icherisheher is the live organism which has its own infrastructure and inhabited files. The place where 1300 families are living. In a word, it is an ancient city in the modern city.
Lunch is at local restaurant at Ateshgah with unlimited Buffet
Proceed for Excursion to Ateshgah. The temple of fire worshippers Ateshgah is located at the Apsheron peninsula at the outskirts of Surakhani village in30 km from the center of Baku and was revered in different times by Zoroastrians, Hindus and Sikhs. Current constructions of the temple are dated by XVII century. Because of excavations far more ancient artifacts were discovered here. Pentagonal complex has an open courtyard with temple-altar in the center which was the place of pilgrimage for worshippers. By the decree of the President of Azerbaijan Ateshgah was declared a State historical-architectural reserve. This museum under the open sky was recently restored.
Overnight in Baku (BL)
DAY 9: BAKU – GOBUSTAN, MUD VOLCANOES AND YANARDAG
Breakfast is at Hotel.
Today we will visit “Gobustan Excursion on historical-art reserve “Gobustan”, where rock paintings have perfectly remained, barrows and housing objects dated from X-XIII millennial BC to the Middle Ages. There are certificates of inhabitants of region of an epoch of the Stone Age and the subsequent periods in “Gobustan” - Rock drawings, person parking, gravestone monuments, are concentrated there. Nearby is “GavalChalan” - original stone- tambourine, representing flat wise established huge plate. It is possible to hear rhythmic accurate motives by knocking on it. It is considered that these sounds accompanied ritual dances and ceremonies. Visiting of “Gobustan” will transfer you to other world, the world of last mankind and will allow you to feel the atmosphere of thousand – year history of this place.
Everyone knows volcanoes, but have you ever seen a volcano which instead of hot lava spits out cold gooey mud? These can be found near Gobustan (Qobustan), a settlement situated 64km southwest of Baku. They are in the middle of an oily desert. (Mind you, I wouldn’t be surprised if in Azerbaijan, which is one of the birthplaces of oil industry, everything was covered with a thin layer of oil). They vary in size and shape but most of them look like giant (40-200 cm) gray molehills, whose surface has been cracked from the heat and which occasionally make oozing, bubbling or squeaking noises. They erupt with thick mud, which is pleasantly cold and makes a nice counterbalance to the oppressive heat of the desert.
Excursion to Yanar Dag. You can see here nature phenomenon, incessant burning nature gas on the rock which named to the Yanar Dag reserve the burning rock. As the historians say, maybe this place gave the name *the fire country* to Azerbaijan.
Overnight in Baku (B)