The Gobustan Preserve, under an hour's drive from Baku (60 km) in eastern Azerbaijan, is home to over 6,000 ancient petroglyphs, the oldest of which are thought to date back some 40,000 years. Scenes depict people, animals, dancing and hunting rituals, battle scenes and camel caravans, and form an unparalleled insight into life in this region in pre-historic times. Here you can also discover the 'gaval dash' musical stone that gives off a tambourine sound when tapped rhythmically with smaller stones, as well as an inscription left by a Roman legion in the 1st century AD. All of this and more is neatly unravelled and explained at the excellent on-site museum.

Did you know that about 350 out of the 800 mud volcanoes known in the World are located in Azerbaijan? Most of them are situated in the Gobustan region. Some of the volcanoes are considered natural monuments and natural national resources of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has been historically known as the Land of Fire because of its rich oil and gas resources, and the natural fires that blazed for millenia on the Absheron Peninsula greatly influenced the beliefs and traditions of the local people. You can still see an example of this natural phenomenon 25 kilometres from Baku, at a place known as Yanardagh (which translates as 'Burning Mountain'), located in the village of Mahammadli. The natural subterranean gas that seeps up to the surface is constantly ablaze, giving this mountain its famous burning look. To protect Yanardagh and attract tourists here, this area was declared a historical, cultural and natural reserve in 2007.

The Ateshgah fire-worshipping temple, located on the Absheron Peninsula on the outskirts of Surakhani village, 30 km from the centre of Baku, was a shrine at different times for Zoroastrians, Hindus and Sikhs. The current buildings at the temple complex date back to the 17th century and consist of a pentagonal complex with an open courtyard in the middle of which is a temple altar that served as a place of pilgrimage for Indian fire-worshippers. Currently the complex functions as a well-designed museum and is often combined with a trip to nearby Yanardagh, the Burning Mountain, to discover more of Azerbaijan's fire legacy.