Breakfast at the hotel.
Visiting Azerbaijan’s historical ethnographic reserve – the ancient village Gala: the center of the Absheron peninsula in the east of Azerbaijan, on a strategically important hill which dominated the area. The older part of Qala village was declared to be a historical ethnographic reserve in 1988 and encompassed 216 historical, archaeological and architectural monuments. The village has five mosques, the remains of a castle, three bathhouses, more than 170 houses, as well as mausoleums, vaults, storage lakes etc. Qala village is not, however, just a collection of monuments illustrating medieval architecture, but a complex simulating a town built in medieval Absheron. It is a rural metaphor for the Inner City and fortress at the center of Baku.
Visiting The Temple of Eternal Fire – Ateshgah – is an authentic Azerbaijani exotic. It is well-known practically all over the world. It is located 30 km from the center of Baku in the suburb of Surakhany. This territory is known for such unique natural phenomenon as burning natural gas outlets (underground gas coming onto surface contacts oxygen and lights up). The temple in its present state was constructed in the 17th-18th centuries. It was built by the Baku-based Hindu community related to Sikhs.
Lunch at restaurant.
Visiting Yanardag Burning Mountain The word “Yanar” in Azeri language means “burning”, and “Dag” – “mountain”. And this is real a burning mountain – not metaphorically, but literally. Once in Absheron it had been a lot of places where natural gas coming out from the earth to the surface ignited spontaneously, but with the start of mass extraction of oil and gas in Absheron these places started to disappear. At present, it is the only place of this unique natural phenomenon – the output of natural gas to the surface.
After Absheron tour guests will visit several shopping malls in Baku such as “Genclik mall”, “28 mall” and “Park Boulevard” and bazaars where they can taste and buy local fruits, vegetables, honey and sweets of different regions of Azerbaijan.
Dinner at restaurant.
Back to the hotel and overnight at hotel