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• Immerse yourself in a distinctly Middle-Eastern and relaxed atmosphere within the medieval walled city of Icheri Sheher within Baku, with its tea-houses and busy street-life. Attractive, narrow streets and stone buildings spread up from the waterfront, where the 12th-century Maiden’s Tower (Gyz-Galasy) looks out over the bay. The Synyk Kalah Minaret dates from 1093 and is the oldest building still standing in the city. Beyond the minaret is the 15th-century royal court complex, the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. Equally distinctive are the opulent houses and public buildings built during the Baku oil boom at the turn of the 20th century, such as Sabuchinsky railway station, dating from 1926, and designed to resemble an enormous madrassah (Islamic religious academy).
• A visit to an Azerbaijani mosque can be an uplifting experience: there are a number of mosques located in the medieval city of Baku, such as the Dzhuma Mosque. The mosque of Shamakha outside of Baku is a 10th-century building, as interesting as it is old.
• Uncover glimpses of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions in the world, founded by the prophet Zoroaster. The Surakhany Temple was established by Parsee fire-worshippers living in Baku in the 18th century. The temple was predated by a much older Zoroastrian shrine on the same site. Ramana, on the Apsheron Peninsula, also features the remains of ancient oil fields where Zoroastrians still occasionally stage ritual dances, leaping over flames that rise from oil-soaked ground over natural gas vents.
• In the village of Xinaliq, outside Quba, you can find a unique ethnic group of 1,000 Tats, who have preserved the original language, customs and traditions of this ancient and threatened Iranian ethnic group from the Caucasus.
• The Apsheron Peninsula stretches out into the Caspian Sea beyond Baku and has some stunning 14th-century fortresses built by the Shirvanshahs, fearing attack from the sea: the best-preserved of these are those at Ramana, Nardaran and Mardakan.
• Travel to the village of Gobustan, about 70km (43 miles) south of Baku, and see an unique array of rock paintings, some of them 10,000 years old and spread over 100 sq km (39 sq miles) of caves and rocky outcrops. The subject matter includes hunting scenes, ritual dances, religious ceremonies, ships, animals and constellations, and many of the rocks are further adorned with signatures and remarks added by visiting Roman soldiers in the first century AD, suggesting that the area has a long history as a tourist attraction.
• Visit what archaeological evidence suggests as one of the oldest settlements in the Caucasus, dating back 2,500 years, at Sheki. Tourists can still visit the 18th-century frescoed summer palace and the fortress built by a local warlord who declared Sheki the capital of an independent khanate.
See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.
• A visit to an Azerbaijani mosque can be an uplifting experience: there are a number of mosques located in the medieval city of Baku, such as the Dzhuma Mosque. The mosque of Shamakha outside of Baku is a 10th-century building, as interesting as it is old.
• Uncover glimpses of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions in the world, founded by the prophet Zoroaster. The Surakhany Temple was established by Parsee fire-worshippers living in Baku in the 18th century. The temple was predated by a much older Zoroastrian shrine on the same site. Ramana, on the Apsheron Peninsula, also features the remains of ancient oil fields where Zoroastrians still occasionally stage ritual dances, leaping over flames that rise from oil-soaked ground over natural gas vents.
• In the village of Xinaliq, outside Quba, you can find a unique ethnic group of 1,000 Tats, who have preserved the original language, customs and traditions of this ancient and threatened Iranian ethnic group from the Caucasus.
• The Apsheron Peninsula stretches out into the Caspian Sea beyond Baku and has some stunning 14th-century fortresses built by the Shirvanshahs, fearing attack from the sea: the best-preserved of these are those at Ramana, Nardaran and Mardakan.
• Travel to the village of Gobustan, about 70km (43 miles) south of Baku, and see an unique array of rock paintings, some of them 10,000 years old and spread over 100 sq km (39 sq miles) of caves and rocky outcrops. The subject matter includes hunting scenes, ritual dances, religious ceremonies, ships, animals and constellations, and many of the rocks are further adorned with signatures and remarks added by visiting Roman soldiers in the first century AD, suggesting that the area has a long history as a tourist attraction.
• Visit what archaeological evidence suggests as one of the oldest settlements in the Caucasus, dating back 2,500 years, at Sheki. Tourists can still visit the 18th-century frescoed summer palace and the fortress built by a local warlord who declared Sheki the capital of an independent khanate.
See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.
