Ilya Burlak Profile

Ilya Burlak
Ilya Burlak.

I only started prioritizing visiting World Heritage sites a few years ago and with my limited US-based corporate-warrior time-off allocation and family obligations I can only add a handful to a dozen in any given year. Looking forward to visiting them all after I am able to retire...

USA Last Update 07.03.19 118 WHS Visited 36 Reviews 118 WHS Rated 26 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

  • ●● Cultural
  • ●● Natural
  • ●● Mixed

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

The Historic City of Dublin (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 11-Mar-19

The Historic City of Dublin (T)

I visited Dublin a couple of times, most recently in 2017, and set aside some time for exploring, but the reality is that there is little to explore there that rises to the level of exceptional. The town is undoubtedly nice, the people are among the friendliest in all of Europe, but beyond a few eye-pleasing clusters in the city center, most of the Georgian architecture that forms the basis of this tentative WH submission is actually kind of boring (I am noting the fact that the text of the submission openly warns the reader of the plainness of the exteriors and contrasts that with purportedly excellent interiors, which can hardly be seen on a short visit to town).

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Ellis Island (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 07-Mar-19

Ellis Island (T)

Ellis Island has been an entry point for over 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of 60-plus years. The descendants of those immigrants nowadays make over 40% of the population of the USA. My wife's family name can be found on the Wall of Honor on the island.

Ellis Island can only be visited on a combined ticket together with the Statue of Liberty, and quite a lot of people give it the short shrift, spending the bulk of their time on Liberty Island. Those who decide to budget time for Ellis Island quickly realize that even a few hours may not be enough for seeing and learning all there is to see and learn. The audio guide - included in the ticket price - has over 120 hours of narration with nearly 2000 stops across half a dozen exhibitions and general areas. I suggest budgeting at least 3 hours, which will allow you to take a look at all major aspects of the site and explore one or two areas in depth

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Central Park (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 06-Mar-19

Central Park (T)

It is surprisingly hard to write a review of one's home area attraction. I've been to Central Park in New York City a few hundred times, in conservative estimation, likely setting foot at least once at or near all of its major features and points of interest. On a pure intellectual level, I continue to recognize it as a monumental achievement of purposeful civic planning and the blueprint for many other parks since. But a park that I've seen only once in some remote locale probably retains a stronger impression for me than the park I've seen and used for most of my adult life.

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Brooklyn Bridge (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 27-Feb-19

Brooklyn Bridge (T)

Among the industrial-age technological monuments, Brooklyn Bridge has few equals in terms of innovation and impact. When built, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it employed techniques and materials that influenced bridge construction ever since.

If it is ever inscribed on the WH list, Brooklyn Bridge for me will occupy a fairly unequalled position of a hometown site that I have visited uncounted times. My college alma mater is located at the foot of the bridge in the Lower Manhattan. In the decades of living in or around New York City, I have walked or driven by the bridge thousands of times, driven over it hundreds of times, and walked across it at least a dozen times.

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Ancient Greek Theatres (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 25-Feb-19

Ancient Greek Theatres (T)

While touring Greece in the summer of 2018, I stopped by a number of its World Heritage sites, and had a chance to see theaters at Delos, Acropolis (called Dionysos Theater), and Delphi. Wherever a theater is part of an ancient site, it is always among the most grandiose monuments to the skill and mastery of the builders of the day. The one at Delos has been pretty much leveled by the two thousand years of neglect - the shape remains, but it is significantly ruined. Dionysos Theater is better preserved. So is the theater at Delphi, the smallest of the three that I've seen.

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 07.03.19
  • Venetian Works of Defence
  • Santa Maria delle Grazie
  • Residences of the Royal House of Savoy
    • Rating Stats
    Amsterdam Canal Ring 5
    Brugge 5
    Budapest 5
    Cordoba 5
    Costiera Amalfitana 5
    Florence 5
    Granada 5
    Kremlin and Red Square 5
    Loire Valley 5
    Palau de la Musica Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau 5
    Paris, Banks of the Seine 5
    Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 5
    Prague 5
    Ravenna 5
    Rome 5
    Segovia 5
    Siena 5
    St. Petersburg 5
    Venice and its Lagoon 5
    Vienna 5
    West Norwegian Fjords 5
    Works of Antoni Gaudí 5
    Acropolis 4.5
    Assisi 4.5
    Bryggen 4.5
    Cracow 4.5
    Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
    Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
    Pompei 4.5
    Potsdam 4.5
    San Gimignano 4.5
    Seville 4.5
    Stonehenge 4.5
    Toledo 4.5
    Vatican City 4.5
    Versailles 4.5
    Albi 4
    Avignon 4
    Botanical Garden, Padua 4
    Brú na Bóinne 4
    Chartres Cathedral 4
    Chichen-Itza 4
    Cologne Cathedral 4
    Delos 4
    Drottningholm 4
    Edinburgh 4
    Giant's Causeway 4
    Gwynedd Castles 4
    Kiev 4
    Kinderdijk 4
    L'viv 4
    Rietveld Schröderhuis 4
    Roskilde Cathedral 4
    Schönbrunn 4
    Tower of London 4
    Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4
    Urbino 4
    Verona 4
    Vicenza 4
    Westminster 4
    Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
    Arles 3.5
    City of Bath 3.5
    El Escurial 3.5
    Ferrara 3.5
    Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
    Graz 3.5
    Kronborg Castle 3.5
    La Fortaleza 3.5
    Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
    Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
    Old City of Berne 3.5
    Pienza 3.5
    Pont du Gard 3.5
    Québec 3.5
    Tarraco 3.5
    Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
    Villa d'Este 3.5
    Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
    Alcala de Henares 3
    Belfries 3
    Canterbury 3
    Fortifications of Vauban 3
    Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3
    Kew Gardens 3
    Mantua and Sabbioneta 3
    Maritime Greenwich 3
    Medici Villas and Gardens 3
    Modena 3
    Reims 3
    San Marino and Mount Titano 3
    Statue of Liberty 3
    Strasbourg 3
    Val d'Orcia 3
    Vézère Valley 3
    Beemster Polder 2.5
    Forth Bridge 2.5
    Independence Hall 2.5
    Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
    Major Town Houses 2.5
    New Lanark 2.5
    Novodevichy Convent 2.5
    Poblet Monastery 2.5
    Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.5
    Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5
    Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.5
    Schokland 2.5
    Semmering Railway 2.5
    Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
    The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5
    Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
    Wadden Sea 2.5
    Canal du Midi 2
    Defence Line of Amsterdam 2
    Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2
    Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.5
    Van Nellefabriek 1.5
    Stoclet House 1

    Reviewed TWHS