Take this exciting excursion
which presents Azerbaijan’s antiquated era and mystic allure on full display! Your
experienced English speaking guide will drive you to Absheron and then leads
you on a captivating tour of the region’s most treasured attractions such as
Ateshgah and Yanar Dag. Roundtrip transfers from your Baku hotel or location (about
30 kilometers away) and all entry formalities are covered.
Upon your arrival at
Ateshgah Fire Temple in Surakhani village, be ready to step back into the country’s
fascinating religious past. Being a shrine once venerated by Hindus,
Zoroastrians and Sikhs, the sprawling 500-year-old complex has a wealth of
attractions to explore. You’ll find here incantations and poems inscribed (in
Persian, Sanskrit, and Punjabi) all over the stone archways, walls etc. But, the
focal point is its elegant quadrangular pavilion right in the middle of the
temple; it boasts of the venerated eternal flames on its altar.
The flames had been an
inextinguishable natural spectacle for thousands of years as it was fed by a
natural gas vent. But it got completely exhausted by 1969, and the fire now
seen here is artificially lit with the gas piped in from Baku. Apart from this,
you’ll get to see attractions like balakhana (guest room) and wander around the
temple’s 20 plus cells which let you glance into its ancient traditions. There
is also a large rectangular pit whose purpose was to burn the dead bodies of
Hindus.
You’ll next board your
vehicle which takes you to Yanar Dag or Burning Mountain. The highlight is a
wall of fire that lights up this 115-meters-high hill, extending for almost 10
meters. What’s more astonishing is that they are natural flames occurring right
from underneath its sandstone surface and imperishable too due to the region’s vast
gas reserves. After a great time here, we’ll get you back to your Baku
location.