Azernews.Az

By Trend

CNN has published an article dedicated to Yanar Dag, a natural gas fire which blazes continuously on a hillside on the Absheron Peninsula on the Caspian Sea near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

"This fire has burned 4,000 years and never stopped," says Rahila Aliyeva. "Even the rain coming here, snow, wind -- it never stops burning."

Ahead, tall flames dance restlessly across a 10-meter stretch of hillside, making a hot day even hotter.

This is Yanar Dag -- meaning "burning mountainside" -- on Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula, where Rahila works as a tour guide, says the article.

“Yanar Dag is one of several spontaneously occurring fires to have fascinated and frightened travelers to Azerbaijan over the millennia. Venetian explorer Marco Polo wrote of the mysterious phenomena when he passed through the country in the 13th century. Other Silk Road merchants brought news of the flames as they would travel to other lands. It's why the country earned the moniker the "land of fire",” said CNN.