Baku lights green for Formula 1
The long-awaited Baku Grand Prix will at least light green to racers of the exciting competition today, on June 17, promising to be stick on minds for a number of milestones.
Today thousands of tourists and residents of the capital as well as millions of fans behind the screen will hear the humming and roaring noise of sporting cars driving along the picturesque Baku, also known as the City of Winds.
Baku will present a Herman Tilke designed circuit that winds around some of the city’s prominent historical sites. The Baku Grand Prix is the most exciting race of the year with a number of challenges that every driver dreams of winning.
An extremely narrow uphill section along the old town walls will require pinpoint accuracy, and an acceleration section of almost 2.2 km along the seaside promenade, will see the cars running flat out at very high speed - something that will create an incredible show both for pilots and race fans.
Along with Monaco and Singapore, Baku will be the third street circuit on the calendar. With a length slightly over six kilometers as an anti-clockwise layout, specialists describe this track as the most complex, entertaining and very curious, for both racers and spectators.
Force Indian pilot Sergio Perez admits that Baku track is really complicated. “There are a lot of narrow sections, which is expected from street circuit, but it is more speedy than in Monaco. I love to drive on such tracks, they contribute to a good show,” he believes.
The second longest F1 track on the calendar -- the Baku Grand Prix -- can truly differ for the excellence, the glamour and the challenge.
Baku will be a circuit of legendary corners seeped in history with cars to run through Baku’s Old Town, a UNESCO World heritage site and the city’s modern boulevards that run along the Caspian Sea, underneath the city’s stunning skyline.
This weekend thousands of foreign tourists will rush to Azerbaijan's capital to watch the long-awaited 8th round of the most popular racing sport -- Formula 1 European Grand Prix.
The hosting of the continental sport festival is turning out to be a historic event for the country.
Currently, everything in the capital is getting ready to host the event and make the race weekend in the Land of Fire unforgettable for tourists.
To familiarize Europeans and the whole world with its ancient history and antique architecture, beautiful nature and delicious cuisine appropriate agencies are preparing fantastic entertainments.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry is already cooperating with tourism enterprises of the country to prepare interesting tours for the guests this June.
One of them will be bus tours around the city, which includes a two-hour tour in three buses on special route in Baku, prepared by Baku Tourist Information Centre.
Moreover, the tourists will hardly forget excursions on the routes such as the Baku-Gobustan-Baku, BakuGala-Baku, Baku-Atashgah templeBaku and Baku-Yanar Dag-Baku. Gobustan State HistoricalArtistic Reserve
An open air museum and one of the oldest historic sites in Absheron peninsula --Gobustan, located in 70 kilometers southwest of Baku, is a geographical area, which consists of ravines located between the southeastern foot of the Great Caucasian Mountains and the Caspian Sea.
Here, the history fans will be impressed by 6,000-year-old rock engravings and the evidence of human habitation that spans 25,000 years, inhabited caves, settlements, and burials -- all reflecting the extensive use of the area by ancient people.
Gobustan carvings consist of the pictures of animals, bulls, goats, wild horses, deer, gazelles, pigs, lions, wolves and others. Pictures of animals mainly were shown by contour lines. Gobustan rock carvings are also rich by their different compositions. Gala State Historical-Ethnographic Reserve
Gala, located in 40 km outside of Baku was founded in 2008 in the Gala settlement, the reserve is devoted to the history of the Absheron Peninsula.
The visitors can get acquainted with the lifestyle people enjoyed in between the 16th-19th centuries here. The complex features cave paintings, gavaldash, pottery, household items, jewelry, weapons and coins, and ancient settlements dating back from the III-II millennium B.C. to the Middle Ages.
The Museum of 1.2 hectares square preserves the antique monuments in the open air. In total, the village of Gala hosts 216 monuments. Atashgah State HistoricalArchitectural Reserve
With a history that stretches back millennia, Baku is home to the Baku Ateshgah or "Fire Temple". The temple is located on a place well known for its natural burning-gas phenomenon.
The history of the temple goes back to the Sassanid Empire, when Zoroastrianism was the main religion in this region. But when the army of the Caliphate broke into the South Caucasus in 643, the Fire Temple fell into decay. In the 15-17th centuries the Indian fire worshipers, who came to the Absheron with trade caravans, began to make pilgrimage to Surakhani.
Atashgah, included in the UNESCO’s preliminary World Heritage list and considered as one of the most interesting monuments due to its historical value and modern appearance, was built in the 17-18th centuries. Yanar Dag
Yanar Dag or the Burning Mountain is the real representation of the well-known epithet of Azerbaijan. This place magically attracts visitors especially in the dark time.
It’s situated on the Absheron Peninsula in some 25 kilometers northeast of the capital city Baku. It is a 116-meter hill with a continuous natural gas fire eruption, which jets out into the air three meters high from a porous sandstone layer.
A 10-meter wall of fire on Yanar Dag burns notwithstanding weather conditions, in snow and rain, thus creating the most spectacular view at night.
The constant Absheron wind makes this place even more mysterious, by creating a bizarre form of fire flames.
Unlike mud volcanoes, which are widespread around Azerbaijan, there is no seepage of mud or liquid at Yanar Dag. It burns simply and gorgeously.