Tour Type: General tours
Price: 1500.00$
Duration:
8 day(s)
- Arrival to Baku, transfer from the Airport to your Hotel.
- Check-in. Breakfast.
Beginning of excursion in Old Town - "Icheri Sheher. See the highlights of Icheri Sheher including the Palace of the Shirvans (the most striking example of the medieval palace structures in Azerbaijan, dating to the middle of 15th century); Maiden's Tower (the ancient, eight storey fortress originally built as a fire beacon); visit Dzhuma Mosque, antiques and carpet shops. - Lunch
- Sightseeing tour in the city: Martyr's Cemetery, located on the higher slopes of the city's west-end, this is the best place for panorama viewing of the city and the Bay of Baku. You will have a walk along Baku Boulevard, the second largest one in the Europe. You can get a boat and make 30 minutes trip along Baku Bay. You will be introduced with the interesting facts and legends of the largest lake in the world better known as Caspian Sea.
- Returning to the hotel
- Dinner. Overnight
- Breakfast
- Leaving for a tour in Absheron peninsula. The second day will be spent primarily within the Greater Baku, where you will be taken to main sites on the Absheron Peninsula
- Ateshgah - the Fire Worshippers' Temple is located in the village of Surakhany. It was built on land where natural gas burned eternally by Zoroastrian believers who travelled from the province of Multan in India to worship. These ancient fires are believed to have given Azerbaijan its name, which is thought by some researchers to mean the 'Land of Fires'.
- Also this day you will visit well preserved ancient castles of Absheron Peninsula dated XII-XIII AD and located farther out on the Absheron Peninsula. There are several fine medieval castles - one each at Amirajan and Nardaran and two at Mardakyany - apparently built for defense by the Shirvan shahs in the 14th century.
- Back to the hotel, free time
- Lunch
- After lunch you will visit the Gobustan reserve. Gobustan is an open-air museum littered with Neolithic rock drawings. Just 65km south of Baku, Gobustan has some 4000 inscriptions that go back 12,000 years (with some 2000 year old Latin graffiti to boot). Stone Age folks sporting loin cloths pose hunt and boogie down. Their dances are thought to have been accompanied by the melodious strains of the Gaval-Dashy (Tambourine Stone) - a rock that has a deep, resonating tone when struck.
- The well-preserved sketches display ancient populations travelling on reed boats; men hunt antelope and wild bulls, women dance. The famed Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl returned many times to Azerbaijan between 1961 and his death in 2002 to study the site, which he argued to be evidence that modern-day Scandinavians migrated north through the Caucasus in prehistoric times. He found similarities in the drawings to those found in Scandinavia, particularly some in Alta, Norway. According to Icelandic Sagas, written in the 13 th century, the Norse God Odin (Wotan) migrated from the Caucasus in the first century AD.
- You will also have a chance to visit quite a unique site where 300 of the planet's estimated 700 mud volcanoes sit Gobustan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. Many geologists as well as locals and international mud tourists trek to such places as the Firuz Crater, Gobustan, Salyan and end up happily covered in mud which is thought to have medicinal qualities. In 2001 one mud volcano 15 kilometers from Baku made world headlines when it suddenly started spewing flames 15 meters high.
- Back to the hotel, free time
- Breakfast
- Departure to Lagich, which is one of the most beautiful corners of Azerbaijan lying at the foot of the Great Caucasian Mountains - the land of rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Three climatic zones are represented at the same time in this region, ranging from snowy mountains to hot planes. Lagich village is famous for its skilful craftsmen. This village is inhabited by hereditary braziers, tanners, engravers, potters, and blacksmiths, metal and wood carvers. During the excursion you will see the bridge connecting two villages, the stone water-pipe of the 16th century, and specimens of dwellings of the 19th century with wall paintings, Museum of regional studies where ancient carpets and brass articles are kept.
- Lahij village of Ismailly region is a historical and architectural reserve with no hint of modern times. The only communication with an external world is a bumpy dirt road. Village population consist of Persian-speaking people. Village is located at the height of 1211 m, on the left bank of the river Girdimanchay.
- You will have an opportunity to see ancient mosques, baths, water pipes and waste systems of the medieval period operate nowadays. The village is famous for its handicraftsmen.
- Some hiking in the mountain Nialdag, visit waterfalls and mines of the fortress Javanshir
- Transfer to Gabala
- Dinner and night at the hotel
The city of Gabala is situated within 225 km from Baku and was built 1800 years ago, out of which 600 it had served as the capital of Caucasian Albania. Located in an area of tall mountains and deep canyons, near the Garachay and Gochalanchay rivers, Gabala is notorious for the ruins of an ancient walled city (Chukur Gabala), dating back to the 4th century BC. Situated south of Mirzabaili, 20km from the modern town, although with an area of 25 hectares the ruins of Chukur Gabala were only discovered in 1959. Since then a lot of archaeological work has been done, uncovering a wide area of urban settlement and artefacts evidencing trade links with Europe, Asia and the middle east. You can still see the remains of five watchtowers and the walls between them; burial grounds; gates; furnaces; residences; etc.
The city has an interesting cultural centre, with beautiful Soviet mosaics, a large war memorial, numerous ancient stone houses and the Rashidbek monument, shapped as a huge book. To enjoy a good perspective of the city climb the neighbouring Kohmurad mountain, an ancient lookout position controlling the city and the mountains. The program of today includes visit to the village of Nidzh, not far from Gabala, known for a unique architectural monument of the Caucasian Albania - Udin Temple. The Udins are absolutely special ethnic group who are considered descendants of Alabanians (only 10,000 of them left). They have managed to preserve their traditions, language, material and spiritual culture up to now. Just recently the temple has been restored and today it is open for church-goers of udin Christian community and tourists wishing to witness the most ancient landmark of Azerbaijan . The restored temple was constructed in the17th - 18th centuries on the site of an ancient Albanian church which had been built at will Saint Eliseus - the Christian ecclesiast and educator honored in the Caucasian Albania. The present day temple has been named after him.
Day 5
Day 6
After breakfast transfer to Mingechavir. Mingechaur is located on the Kura River. It is well-known first of all for its water basin which local residents call ‘Mingechaur Sea’. It provides nearby areas of the republic with fresh water. Located on the coast of the water basin is the tourist center with a magnificent view on the sandy beach. But it is not only the "sea" that attracts tourists.
Mingechaur is the place where archeologists found an entire complex of monuments dated from 2,000 BC to 17th century AD including remains of settlements, burial mounds, burial grounds, amphora burials, and even Christian temples. The city has a theatre and a local history museum with the collection reflecting the rich history of the area. Departure for Ganja.
Ganja is Azerbaijan's second-largest city. In Soviet times it was named Kirovabad. According to medieval Arab sources, the city of Ganja was founded in 859-60 by Mohammad b. Khaled b. Yazid b. Mazyad, the Arab governor of the region in the reign of the caliph Al-Mutawakkil, and so-called because of a treasure unearthed there.
The city is situated on a foot of the Small Caucasus, on the Ganja River, south of the Kura River in a rich agricultural area. It is in a middle of the way between Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, and Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia.
Day 8
Departure for Baku / or Tbilisi
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