SATISFY YOUR WONDERLUST
Make your way from bustling Baku into its awe-inspiring landscape and see for yourself why it has intrigued and inspired people for centuries. Just an hour from the city is the lunar-esque Gobustan, home to eerie mud volcanoes. Unlike their molten lava counterparts, these volcanoes are mostly small, cool and safe to approach. And when you’ve taken these in, this national park is famed for its petroglyphs – ancient drawings, chiselled onto exposed rock, which date back up to 40,000 years.
Add to the surrealism with a visit to the musical stone, Gaval Dash, and hear its hypnotic sound.
To find out why flames are Baku’s national symbol, head to Yanar Dag, a hillside reportedly (and accidentally) set on fire by a discarded cigarette in the 1950s. A sight particularly striking at night, it burns continuously due the natural gas seeping from the earth. You could even pay homage to the essential element yourself at Ateshgah’s famous fire temple.