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 31.12.23 170 WHS Visited 105 Reviews 170 WHS Rated 33 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

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

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

Belize Barrier Reef

Ilya Burlak USA - 19-Mar-24

Belize Barrier Reef

I visited the South Water Caye component in December of 2023. In line with most of the reviews below, I am not a diver, not an underwater photographer, and at best an indifferent snorkeler. Plus, traveling with family members who do not necessarily care for extra efforts to visit a WHS limited me to a single option - some sort of an intraday excursion with plenty of relaxation built in.

Thankfully, in Hopkins where we stayed, resorts offer "island-hopping" expeditions that bring you to several cayes within the reef WH boundaries, including Tobacco Caye and South Water Caye

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Tikal National Park

Ilya Burlak USA - 05-Mar-24

Tikal National Park

I visited Tikal in December of 2023 on a day trip from Western Belize. Echoing the past reviewers, the huge site well deserves various superlatives. The Grand Plaza is the most impressive cluster of temples and acropolises anywhere, the pyramid at El Mundo Perdido and the Temple IV are among can't-miss structures, and there are many hidden treasures found throughout the park.

A true connoisseur could probably spend several days here [...]

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Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 07-Feb-24

Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade Routes from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (T)

Only Yoros Castle and Galata Tower were included on my itinerary of Istanbul and Marmara in October of 2023. Furthermore, although I stayed literally around the corner from Galata Tower, I never actually set foot in it. There are so many other elevated perspectives that you can find in Istanbul and the lines to enter Galata Tower are so long throughout the day that I expressly decided to skip it. So beyond agreeing that it is a very impressive building - arguably, one of the emblematic sights of Istanbul - I have very little to say about it.

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Bursa and Cumalikizik

Ilya Burlak USA - 06-Feb-24

Bursa and Cumalikizik

In October of 2023, on a brief road trip from Istanbul, I spent an afternoon and stayed overnight in Bursa, while also visiting Cumalıkızık the next morning.

My time in Bursa allowed me to visit four of the WHS components, the central Orhan Ghazi Külliye, the nearby mausoleum of Orhan Gazi in Tophane Park, and Yesil Külliye and Yildirim Külliye. Visiting other components felt a bit of an overkill, but covering all locations looks possible within a full day or maybe a day and a half; distances are not insurmountable on foot but also not trivial away from the central cluster of sights; taxis are inexpensive.

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Íznik (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 18-Jan-24

Íznik (T)

I spent a bit over three hours in Íznik in October of 2023. That was enough time to stop by three of the town's gates, explore several mosques, peruse the museum collection at the historic soup kitchen building, stroll around the central town a bit, and glance at the Roman theater from behind the fence. I also initially planned to go to the Tile Museum, but that was curtailed due to the amount of time I spent on breakfast in the morning.

Of the gates, the Lefke on the eastern side is the most interesting to explore, while Yenişehir on the southern edge is the most fortress-like

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 31.12.23
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
Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
Istanbul 4.5
Kraków 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
Villa Romana del Casale 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 Cathedral and Lavra 4
L'viv 4
Monastery of Alcobaça 4
Monastery of Batalha 4
Mostar 4
Mount Etna 4
Old City of Jerusalem 4
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4
Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 4
Rietveld Schröderhuis 4
Roskilde Cathedral 4
Schönbrunn 4
Split 4
Tikal National Park 4
Tower of London 4
Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4
Urbino 4
Verona 4
Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 4
Westminster 4
Arab-Norman Palermo 3.5
Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
Arles 3.5
Bom Jesus do Monte 3.5
Bursa and Cumalikizik 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 and San Juan 3.5
Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
Old City of Berne 3.5
Pienza 3.5
Pont du Gard 3.5
Québec 3.5
Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
Tarraco 3.5
Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
Val di Noto 3.5
Villa d'Este 3.5
Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
Agrigento 3
Alcala de Henares 3
Belem 3
Belfries 3
Canterbury 3
Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin 3
Evora 3
Fortifications of Vauban 3
Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3
Great Spa Towns of Europe 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
Odesa 3
Reims 3
San Marino and Mount Titano 3
Statue of Liberty 3
Strasbourg 3
Syracuse 3
The Porticoes of Bologna 3
Trogir 3
University of Coimbra 3
Val d'Orcia 3
Vézère Valley 3
Beemster Polder 2.5
Belize Barrier Reef 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
Neolithic Orkney 2.5
New Lanark 2.5
Novodevichy Convent 2.5
Old City of Acre 2.5
Panamá 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
Dutch Water Defence Lines 2
Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2
Nice 2
Stećci 2
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2
White City of Tel-Aviv 2
Bahá’i Holy Places 1.5
Van Nellefabriek 1.5
Mount Carmel Caves 1
Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1
Stoclet House 1

Reviewed TWHS