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Sightseeing tour BAKU

“If you knock on any door in Azerbaijan, or anywhere in the Caucasus, say that you are a foreigner and have no place to spend the night, the owner of the house will immediately give you his largest room. He and his family will move to the small room. Moreover, during the week, two weeks, or the month that you stay in his house he will take care of you and will not let you want for anything‟ (Alexander Dumas, French author, 1858)

Baku – the capital of Azerbaijan

Baku - the capital of Azerbaijan, the largest city in the Caucasus and one of the most beautiful cities in the world is compared with Naples, San Francisco and other big cities of the world. The city is situated on the southern coast of the Absheron Peninsula and is the largest port in the Caucasus.
According to one version, the name Azerbaijan comes from the Persian language "Badkube" - "wind blow", probably because of strong winds, hence "Baku - the city of winds", according to another version, Baku means - a city on the hill. The name Azerbaijan is found in written sources from the IX century. But the historical sources indicate that the settlements on the place of the city appeared long time ago. They tell about the area, notable with "flames rising from underwater rocks". These "eternal" fires appeared in spots of natural gas yield.
The evidences of the ancient age of the city are rock carvings left by primitive people on the walls of caves in Absheron and Gobustan (12 thousand years ago), as well as various archaeological finds, rock inscription left by Augustus, Gaius Octavius, narrating of military camps, set in this area in the I century BC. Considering all given above, we can establish that the city of Baku is more than 5,5 thousand years old.

DAY 01 ARRIVAL – SIGHTSEEING TOUR

Meet and greet upon arrival and transfer to your hotel for check in. Full of cafes, fountains and fairground rides, the central sweep of seafront park is eternally popular with families, amateur musicians and courting couples. Striking modernist buildings here include:

Baku Boulevard

National Flag Square

Azerbaijan Carpet Museum

Little Venice Water Park

Fountain Square

We continue our tour with visiting of “Old Town” or “Inner City”. The territory of” Old Town” – 22 hectares, which represents a small fraction of the total area of Baku (44,000 hectares). However, the concentration of architectural and historical monuments, dictates the need for this excursion into a separate and make this part of Baku, perhaps the most interesting to explore.

Old City Baku

It is widely accepted that the Old City, including its Maiden Tower, date at least to the 12th century, with some researchers contending that construction dates as far back as the 7th century. The question has not been completely settled.During this medieval period of Baku, such monuments as the Synyg Gala Minaret (11th century), the fortress walls and towers (11th–12th centuries), the Maiden Tower, the Multani Caravanserai and Hajji Gayyib bathhouse (15th century), the Palace of the Shirvanshahs (15th–16th centuries), the Bukhara Caravanserai and Gasimbey bathhouse (16th century) were built.In 1806, when Baku was occupied by the Russian Empire during the Russo-Persian War (1804–13),there were 500 households and 707 shops, and a population of 7,000 in the Old City (then the only neighbourhood of Baku) whom were almost all ethnic Tats.Between 1807 and 1811, the city walls were repaired and the fortifications extended. The city had two gates: the Salyan Gates and the Shemakha Gates.

The city was protected by dozens of cannons set on the walls. The port was re-opened for trade, and in 1809 a customs office was established.It was during this period that Baku started to extend beyond the city walls, and new neighbourhoods emerged. Thus the terms Inner City (Azerbaijani: İçəri Şəhər) and Outer City (Azerbaijani: Bayır Şəhər) came into use. Referring to the early Russian rule, Bakuvian actor Huseyngulu Sarabski wrote in his memoirs:Baku was divided into two sections: Ichari Shahar and Bayir Shahar. The Inner City was the main part. Those who lived in the Inner City were considered natives of Baku. They were in close proximity to everything: the bazaar, craftsmen's workshops and mosques. There was even a church there, as well as a military barracks built during the Russian occupation. Residents who lived inside the walls considered themselves to be superior to those outside and often referred to them as the "barefooted people of the Outer City".

DAY 02 ABSHERON TOUR

The tour to natural, historical and architectural monuments on Absheron Peninsula. Absheron Peninsula has special importance in terms of historical monuments.

The temple of fire worshippers Ateshgah (XVII century)

The Baku Ateshgah, often called the "Fire Temple of Baku" is a castle-like religious temple in Surakhani,a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan. Based on Persian and Indian inscriptions, temple was used as a Hindu and Zoroastrian place of worship.

Yanar Dag

(meaning "burning mountain") is a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan (a country which itself is known as "the Land of Fire").

Flames jet into the air 3 metres (9.8 ft) from a thin, porous sandstone layer.Administratively, Yanar Dag belongs to Absheron District of Azerbaijan.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. The Yanar Dag fire is never extinguished. Around this open fireplace the atmosphere is filled with the smell of gas. The flames emanate from vents in sandstone formations and rise to a height of 10 metres (33 ft) (different figures are mentioned in other references) at the base of a 10-metre (33 ft)-wide scarp below a hillside.Yanar Dag is described by the Geological Survey of Azerbaijan as "Intensive flames, to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) high, develop for 15 metres (49 ft) along the base of a 2–4 metres (6 ft 7 in–13 ft 1 in) high and 200 metres (660 ft) long tectonic scarp.

"The surface flames result from the steady gas emissions from underlying soils.Even the surface of streams near Yanar Dag fire can be ignited with a match. These streams, which otherwise appear calm, are known as Yanar Bulaq: "burning springs." There are several such springs in the vicinity of the Vilascay River, where the local people take curative baths.Alexandre Dumas, during one of his visits to the area, described a similar fire he saw in the region inside one of the Zoroastrian fire temples built around it. Only a handful of fire mountains exist today in the world, and most are located in Azerbaijan. Due to the large concentration of natural gas under the Absheron Peninsula, natural flames burned there throughout antiquity and were reported on by historical writers such as Marco Polo.Most mud volcanoes are located off the Baku‐Shamakha road, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the city.

The GALA Museum

The national historical and ethnographic park "Gala" is an unusual place in which different times and eras have met.Archaeological artifacts, cultural and ethnographic monuments, life samples - all this can be met here. On one small site under the open sky.

Getting to the reserve "Gala" as if it appear in other reality. This really amazing place. Here still there are ancient constructions in which still there live people, and all this territory as if has kept the original state.

In a complex rock paintings, pottery, household objects and jewelry, weapon and coins, the preserved ruins of the ancient settlement relating to the period from III-II thousand BC to the Middle Ages are presented. The reserve is located on the place of one of the most ancient parking of the person where were conducted and archeological excavations continue to be conducted to this day. According to scientists, pioneer settlements have appeared here more than 5 thousand years ago.

The Heydar Aliyev Center

The center is named for Heydar Aliyev, the leader of Soviet-era Azerbaijan from 1969 to 1982, and president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to October 2003. The Center houses a conference hall (auditorium), a gallery hall and a museum. The project is intended to play an integral role in the intellectual life of the city. Located close to the city center, the site plays a pivotal role in the redevelopment of Baku.The Heydar Aliyev Center represents a fluid form which emerges by the folding of the landscape’s natural topography and by the wrapping of individual functions of the Center.

All functions of the Center, together with entrances, are represented by folds in a single continuous surface. This fluid form gives an opportunity to connect the various cultural spaces whilst at the same time, providing each element of the Center with its own identity and privacy. As it folds inside, the skin erodes away to become an element of the interior landscape of the Center.

Heydar Aliyev Center had an official soft-opening ceremony on 10 May 2012 held by current president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.An internationally recognized architectural work, the building of the Heydar Aliyev

Center has become a signature landmark of modern Baku due to its innovative and cutting-edge design. Extending on eight floor levels, the center accommodates a 1000-seat auditorium, temporary exhibition spaces, a conference center, workshops, and a museum.The building was nominated for awards in 2013 at both the World Architecture Festival and the biennial Inside Festival.In 2014, Centre won the Design Museum’s Design of the Year Award 2014 despite concerns about the site's human rights record. This makes Zaha Hadid the first woman to win the top prize in that competition.

DAY 03 GOBUSTANE TOUR

Gobustane

Throughout many centuries under impact of the sun, wind, seismic activity and various atmospheric precipitation, blocks of stones broke away from the edges of a vast limestone layer and rolled down the slopes. Here, in the area displaying the fantastic scene of destruction, the huge blocks of stones and rocks chaotically pressed against each other, forming about 20 big and small caves and the canopies serving as a natural shelter to the inhabitants.The archeological value of Gobustan was discovered when a group of men went in to mine for gravel in 1930.

While the zone is abundant in boulders and stone formations, one mine employee noticed the sacred carvings on the rocks. They also discovered man-made caves wherein more of the drawings can be found.Prehistoric carvings.Gobustan is very rich in archaeological monuments. The reserve has more than 6,000 rock engravings dating back between 5,000 - 40,000 years. The site also features the remains of inhabited caves, settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human use by the inhabitants of the area during the wet period that followed the last Ice Age, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Middle Ages.

The site, which covers an area of 537 ha, is part of the larger protected Gobustan Reservation.Most of the rock engravings depict primitive men, animals, battle-pieces, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, pictures of sun and stars.The petroglyphs and rock engravings are an exceptional testimony to a way of life that has disappeared, graphic representations of activities connected with hunting and fishing at a time when the climate and vegetation of the area were warmer and wetter than today.

Iskhag Jafarzadeh who was one of the pioneers of Azerbaijan archaeology and ethnography, excavated over seventy artifacts on Azerbaijan's territory and studied the Gobustan rock paintings. In 1948 during the Gobustan expedition, he discovered the Latin rock inscription near mountain Boyukdash, some 70 km far from Baku, which is the easternmost Roman evidence to be known.Today Gobustan is the most popular state reserve and is an invaluable treasure-house of Azerbaijan. For other state reserves see State Reserves of Azerbaijan.Some of notable features among other animal rock arts are marine species that can not be found in today's Caspian Sea, such as baleen whales, beaked whales or dolphins, and auks.

Mud volcanoes

Very few people know that Azerbaijan wins first place in the world by quantity of the operating mud volcanoes.Traces of their activity can be found also and in Gobustan.

These volcanoes represent educations in view of the cone-shaped hill with a crater in the soil.And it is natural that an opportunity to examine them during this excursion will also be presented to tourists.

BAKU TOUR (4 nights / 5 days)

Day 1

Arrival Day