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| Mud Volcanoes, Azerbaijan |
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| Temple of The Flame, Azetbaijan |
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| Yanardag (Burning Mountain) Azerbaijan |
Day 2 Good Friday Oct 17 2025 (Baku, Azerbaijan) - today, using a rental car from Baku, we visited 3 major touristy places (high in hydrocarbon, gas & flames) near Baku & the out lying area of Baku, Azerbaijan often called "The Land of Fire" ie Mud Volcanoes, Fire Temple of Baku & Yanardag (Burning Mountain).
Travel itinerary (by self drive rental car): Baku, Azerbaijan > Mud Volcano, Gobustan National Park > Baku City > Fire Temple of Baku > Yanardag > Baku City.
1) Early morning walk (after a late night sleep upon our first day arrival in Baku from Kuala Lumpur last night) in Old City of Baku, Baku Fortress & Nizami Street, drizzling at the time of our visit ! Our group bought a Travel Sim card (AZN45 = Rm117) & visited a money changer in Nizami street, Baku.
2) Taxi ride (15 ANZ = Rm39) from Nizami Street to Aznur Rental Company, Baku to pick up a pre-booked rental SUV car (ANZ55 + Petrol ANZ30 = Rm221 @Rm55 cost sharing of 4) for our outstation travel to visit mud volcanoes, Temple of Fire & Yanardag (The Burning Mountain). In addition, we paid Rm60 @Rm15 for an express car insurance coverage.
3) Tourism brochures from rental car company on Baku Old City & Night City tour, Gobustan / Absheron / Gabala / Shamaka, a useful guide !
4) Exiting Baku City & heading to our first place of interest / visit ie Mud Volcanoes approx 70km from Baku.
5) Mud Volcanoes, Gobustan National Park Area - the official front gate entry was closed for public visit, local security guard advised us to hire a local guide to take us to a nearby mud volcano located a few kilometres away, our group agreed to pay the guide AZN30 for his service fee but we ended up paying AZN50 (Rm130) for his hard work using his old vehicle directing us to the right spot but the road conditions along the way were really bad, uneven & dusty - not a pleasant drive at all !
6) The start of our "rock & roll" drive following the red car of our local tour guide along a dry, dusty dessert road !
7) Arriving in Mud Volcanoes, Gobustan National Park Area, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan has the world's highest concentration of mud volcanoes with over 400 active sites located primarily in the Gobustan & Absheron Peninsula regions, these volcanoes are formed by tectonic movements & the escaping gas can sometimes ignite causing perpetual flames, they are a unique geological phenomenon that sometimes have therapeutic properties & some islands in the Caspian Sea were even created by ancient mud volcanic eruptions !
8) Our group's next visit ie Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape, Azerbaijan - a protected historic & natural site in Azerbaijan, located about 70km from south west of Baku, near the settlement of Gobustan, it was established to preserve the region's prehistoric rock carving, mud volcanoes & natural musical stones, a brief stopover, external visit only.
9) Grocery shopping in Araz Supermarket, off the Gobustan > Baku highway, group buying of freshly baked breads, broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, oranges & marinated chickens for our home-cooking in the apartment kitchen in Baku (AZN28 = Rm73 @ Rm18)
10) Suburban & Cityscape of Baku, Azerbaijan as our car drove pass the Baku city heading towards Ateshgah Fire Temple or The Temple of the Flames, located in Surakhani town approx 30km from Baku
11) The Ateshgah of Baku (Fire Temple of Baku or Temple of Eternal Fire) is a castle like religious temple in Surakhany town, a suburb in Baku, Azerbaijan; based on Iranian & Indian inscriptions, the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh & Zoroastrian place of worship "Atash" is the Persian & Azerbaijan word for fire ! Admission fee 9AZN (Rm23.40)
12) Yanardag, Azerbaijan - a natural gas fire that burns perpetually on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula in Azerbaijan, near the capital city of Baku, known as the "Burning Mountain", its eternal flame has been burning for thousands of years, fuelled by natural gas seeping from porous sandstone, rising up to 3 meters ! Admission fee 9AZN (Rm23.40), given 10 minutes for pictures taking as it was near closing time at the time of our last visit of the day !
13) Maiden Tower (UNESCO), Old City of Baku by Night - approx. 200m from our guest house.
14) A lovely home cooked dinner prepared by my travel buddy, Kam Ying - a rich "harvest" today, both in terms of sightseeing & food, after a fruitful outing by a self drive rental car to mud volcanoes, Temple of Fire & Yanardag - all are popular day tour / package tour destinations !
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