Baku – From Rock Art to Hell Fire

9-13  September 2018

Gobustan petroglyphs

The Absheron Peninsula has long been a coveted location. Jutting into the Caspian Sea, one flies into Heydar International over the largest inland sea on Earth. Its shores were home to not only early civilization, but the long dead organisms, fossils and marine life that produced immense deposits of fossil fuel. Azerbaijan: petroglyphs, Starbucks, Tiffany’s, beaches and crude oil – all in one spot.  

My friend Kathy and I have joined an Eldertrek tour to usher us about the Caucasus. Our first stop will be Gobustan National Park (UNESCO), just 38 miles southwest of Baku along the spectacular Caspian Sea. It is an interesting drive past countless oil wells, arid expanses of land, tall apartments built atop old oil pumping sites, and over an impressive highway system.  (more…)