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 15.03.20 150 WHS Visited 84 Reviews 150 WHS Rated 39 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

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

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

Wadi Rum

Ilya Burlak USA - 11-Feb-20

Wadi Rum

My two days in Jordan in November 2019 gave me two of the most amazing places I have ever been to. Incomparable Petra was one. And the following day, Wadi Rum. Although it is inscribed both as a natural and cultural property, Wadi Rum's awe-inspiring natural beauty bowled me over all by itself. I left practically all of the cultural aspect of it aside.

A visit to the protected area starts at the visitor center on its northern edge. If you show up without any prior accommodations for seeing the desert, you can hire a local guide on the spot. Each of them has an SUV on hand to drive you around. It should be noted that if you come in a 4×4, you can pay for a self-driving permit, but I do not expect many people to take that option. In my case, four people including me were picked up by a professional guide directly from our overnight lodgings near Petra in a closed, air-conditioned SUV, and driven to Wadi Rum and around the entire day

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Petra

Ilya Burlak USA - 07-Feb-20

Petra

There is very little to add to what has already been said about Petra. It is simply one of the most wondrous places I will have ever seen in my life. I will mainly focus on logistical notes in this review.

The half-built, half-carved into rock city is spread over a huge site. My visit in November of 2019 lasted just around five hours, which allowed me to hit most of the key highlights without lingering anywhere for too long. I had to leave aside some of the farthest points in Petra, most notably the outlying Monastery.

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Ein Karem, a village and its cultural landscape (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 03-Feb-20

Ein Karem, a village and its cultural landscape (T)

My visit to Ein Karem was not too extensive in November of 2019. Yad Vashem is nearby, as is Abbell Synagogue of Hadassah Ein Karem with windows painted by Marc Chagall - the two main points of interest that I planned for one afternoon. I had about an extra hour in my schedule, and decided to drive to the core of the village to take a quick look.

That part of Ein Karem is [...]

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Makhteshim Country (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 03-Feb-20

Makhteshim Country (T)

If you are driving on Route 40 to Eilat, you will go through Makhtesh Ramon, the largest and most well-known of makhteshim. In Mitzpe Ramon on its northern edge there is a visitor center and a chain of viewpoints over the geological formation. Viewpoints are all free to access, including that right by the visitor center. It is quite easy to take a look at the makhtesh with a reasonably short stop on you driving journey, which is what I did in November of 2019. I did not go inside the visitor center at all, and have no first-hand knowledge of what it might offer for a park-visiting fee. (Note that Israel Pass includes Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center in its list.)

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Caesarea (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 30-Jan-20

Caesarea (T)

By the time I came to Caesarea, I was already having a mild case of archaeology overload from my time in Israel over two weeks in November of 2019, so I suspect I moved through the site too quickly. A true student of ancient history could likely spend 3-4 hours here easily – and will probably benefit from having a guide on hand. I still got the impression that the place was worth visiting while keeping myself to the major points of interest.

There are layers of structures and street networks in the principal part of the archaeological site. As everywhere, the surviving arches are among the most eye-catching artifacts. In some places, parts of original mosaics can still be seen

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
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Recently Visited WHS

Update 15.03.20
  • Old City of Jerusalem
  • Istanbul
  • Petra
  • Masada
  • Old City of Acre
  • White City of Tel-Aviv
  • Biblical Tells
  • Incense Route of the Negev
  • Bahá’i Holy Places
  • Wadi Rum
  • Bethlehem
  • Mount Carmel Caves
  • Necropolis of Bet She'arim
    • 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 & Hospital de Sant Pau 5
    Paris, Banks of the Seine 5
    Petra 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
    Wadi Rum 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
    Istanbul 4.5
    Oporto 4.5
    Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
    Pompei 4.5
    Potsdam 4.5
    San Gimignano 4.5
    Seville 4.5
    Sintra 4.5
    Stonehenge 4.5
    Toledo 4.5
    Vatican City 4.5
    Versailles 4.5
    Albi 4
    Alto Douro 4
    Avignon 4
    Botanical Garden, Padua 4
    Brú na Bóinne 4
    Chartres Cathedral 4
    Chichen-Itza 4
    Cologne Cathedral 4
    Convent of Christ in Tomar 4
    Delos 4
    Drottningholm 4
    Dubrovnik 4
    Edinburgh 4
    Giant's Causeway 4
    Gwynedd Castles 4
    Kinderdijk 4
    Kyiv 4
    L'viv 4
    Monastery of Alcobaça 4
    Monastery of Batalha 4
    Mostar 4
    Old City of Jerusalem 4
    Rietveld Schröderhuis 4
    Roskilde Cathedral 4
    Schönbrunn 4
    Split 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
    Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
    El Escurial 3.5
    Ferrara 3.5
    Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
    Graz 3.5
    Guimarães 3.5
    Kotor 3.5
    Kronborg Castle 3.5
    La Fortaleza 3.5
    Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
    Old City of Berne 3.5
    Pienza 3.5
    Pont du Gard 3.5
    Québec 3.5
    Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga 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
    Belem 3
    Belfries 3
    Canterbury 3
    Evora 3
    Fortifications of Vauban 3
    Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3
    Incense Route of the Negev 3
    Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3
    Kew Gardens 3
    Mantua and Sabbioneta 3
    Maritime Greenwich 3
    Masada 3
    Medici Villas and Gardens 3
    Modena 3
    Reims 3
    San Marino and Mount Titano 3
    Statue of Liberty 3
    Strasbourg 3
    Trogir 3
    University of Coimbra 3
    Val d'Orcia 3
    Vézère Valley 3
    Beemster Polder 2.5
    Bethlehem 2.5
    Biblical Tells 2.5
    Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
    Forth Bridge 2.5
    Independence Hall 2.5
    Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
    Major Town Houses 2.5
    Necropolis of Bet She'arim 2.5
    New Lanark 2.5
    Novodevichy Convent 2.5
    Old City of Acre 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
    Stećci 2
    White City of Tel-Aviv 2
    Bahá’i Holy Places 1.5
    Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.5
    Van Nellefabriek 1.5
    Mount Carmel Caves 1
    Stoclet House 1

    Reviewed TWHS