Gobustan-Absheron Tour

Our country is not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also famous for its oil and gas deposits. We have been providing "black gold" to countries all over the world for more than 70 years now, and on your way to Gobustan, you have a rare chance to see the jungle of oil rigs. This very area is also well-known for its role in the James Bond movie "And the Whole World Is Not Enough." Some scenes, such as a shot where Bond drives around in his BMW Z8 near the oil rigs, were filmed in Azerbaijan, to be more specific in the village of Bibi-Heybat. In the movie, you can see the building process of a large oil pipeline that is used to deliver Caspian oil to the West. This pipeline actually exists in real life.
 

The specific trait of Azerbaijan's geology is the large number of mud volcanoes scattered all around the region. A path leading tourist to the view of these active volcano craters has something touching and romantic about it. According to our legends, this place was home to a lot of demons (the Azerbaijani name for them is djinn), and more than that, the whole atmosphere there gives off a magical and moon-like aura. It really is hard to move forward from these landscapes, but don't worry, on the way of the Gobustan-Absheron tour, there's so much more to see.

Our next stop is one of the most interesting parts of our cultural history, which is well-known all over the world. The biggest parking lot of primitive man is situated here completely untouched. It is a village of the first Cro-Magnons that has been hidden away and preserved intact since ancient times. Such a beautiful piece of history displayed there will be explained to tourists at the modern museum, who have a chance to hear all about the Paleolithic and the everyday life of our ancestors.
 

After you get some of the information settled, you have the opportunity to see everything for yourselves. As the guests of Azerbaijan Travel International, you will get to experience seeing the rock paintings our ancestors left behind while also trailing around the territory, viewing the petroglyphs, and listening to the guide, who will be telling tourists a story about the evolution of humankind. The survival skills of Homo sapiens, their harsh living conditions, the desire to survive, their hierarchy system, and the specific moments of everyday lives of their life will make you feel as if there are not as many differences between us and our ancestors as we always thought there were. Under all these decorations, at the end of the day, we are all the same. And on this meaningful note, we can say that the first part of the Gobustan-Absheron tour ends and the guests return to Baku.

Also, during our tour we will visit the first oil well drilled in Azerbaijan, and indeed in the world in general. It was drilled in 1846 in the village of Bibi-Heybat near Baku. The depth of the well was 21 meters. It was drilled by percussion using wooden rods. On July 14, 1848, the first oil was produced from the well. This is a true public asset that allowed oil production to take a huge step forward towards the world we see today.

The "Baku" restaurant is located in one of the main parks of the Capital and offers tourists a three-course meal that contains national food and a traditional cup of tea in armudu. After the delicious lunch the tour moves forward, hitting the next stop of it - The Temple of Fire.

Absheron was well-known back in the time too. Thus, in the first century BC, Hindu Brahmanites and Persian Zoroastrians heard about the land where the flame of fire came right out of the ground with no visible reason for them to. This land was Absheron. They saw it as an opportunity to build a sacred Temple in the place where the most of the flames were concentrated and call it Ateshgah.

Back then, Azerbaijan was also located at the intersection of trade routes, the most popular of them called the Great Silk Road, therefore Absheron had a beautiful caravanserai, the inn built on its territory to let the merchants rest and travel safely. All that and so much more will be described to you by our thoughtful guide, who will let you get an insight on the peculiarities in the everyday life of the fire-worshippers and also learn about habits of merchants staying in the caravanserai. Tourists will be shown a lot of different installations that showcase and point out the belief and everyday life of ancient hermits.
 

Back in the days Azerbaijan had dozens of burning spots all over the lands of Absheron but to these modern days sadly there's only one left for us all to witness. There's a bright unquenchable fire burning and coming out of the ground near the top of the most extreme mountain of the Great Caucasus. It has been living and beating for centuries now, and its flames can mesmerize anyone. For the sake of this the mountain was called Burning which means Yanardag in Azerbaijani.

You'll be able to see the ancient fire for yourself and not only this, but also the fact that from the observation desk which is situated on top of Yanardag you're capable of seeing a third of the whole Absheron peninsula.

On this beautiful note, the Gobustan-Absheron tour is ending and it takes around 8 to 9 hours, starting off in the morning and ending in the evening. The tour safely gets the guests to Baku.