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 19.11.19 150 WHS Visited 63 Reviews 150 WHS Rated 37 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

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

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

Semmering Railway

Ilya Burlak USA - 18-Sep-19

Semmering Railway

In a burst of fairly unusual spontaneity, I traversed the length of the WH-inscribed portion of Semmering Railway twice in both directions on consecutive days in December of 2016. I was spending a week and a half in Vienna and one day, being somewhat tired of the city, I got myself a ticket on a slow train to Mürzzuschlag and back.

It is hard to appreciate the magnificence of a railway from inside a railcar. You get to see beautiful landscapes outside the window; you only get glimpses of the tunnel entrances and the viaducts where they bookend the curves

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Kotor

Ilya Burlak USA - 12-Sep-19

Kotor

I visited Kotor area in July of this year on a day-trip from Dubrovnik. I first drove along practically entire perimeter of the uniquely-shaped bay to the town of Kotor, spent half a day there, then crossed the bay via ferry at its narrowest point, and stopped for a short time in the town of Herceg Novi (which is not part of the WHS proper but rather of its buffer zone).

The vistas around the bay are reminiscent of Italian lakes, only the mountains are higher and less lush, and the towns on average are less picturesque. The shores of the bay are dotted with historic fortifications, modern resorts, and relatively contemporary settlements. The town of Kotor that donated its name to the whole region is tucked away in the south corner of the eastern wing of the bay. In addition to headlining this WH site, its fortifications are separately inscribed as part of the serial Venetian Works of Defense property. The historic core of Kotor is a delightful maze of narrow streets that open up to occasional wide public spaces

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Dubrovnik

Ilya Burlak USA - 27-Aug-19

Dubrovnik

In July 2019 Dubrovnik acted as a base for my exploration of its WHS "hotspot". I spent only one full day in Dubrovnik proper but returned every evening for a few days for a meal and a stroll, so managed to acquire a certain level of familiarity with the town.

Objectively, Dubrovnik has to be considered an impressive walled town, well deserving its fame as “the Pearl of the Adriatic”. And yet, for me, it left less of an impression than Split. This could be due to the town plan: the core of the Dubrovnik is mainly about two parallel east-west streets with public spaces at both ends; small streets run perpendicular to those two and turn into stairways that run up to the elevated parts to the north and south; the northern elevation roughly retains grid structure, with auxiliary east-west streets as subsequently higher terraces; the south side attempts to depart from the grid but only a little

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The natural and architectural ensemble of Stolac (T)

Ilya Burlak USA - 20-Aug-19

The natural and architectural ensemble of Stolac (T)

In July of 2019, I visited Stolac area with the focus on nearby stećci sites, Radimlja and Boljuni. Both are included on the Stolac ensemble tentative submission, in addition to already having been inscribed with the serial stećci property. Radimlja is an accessible and well-maintained necropolis, with some interesting tomb decorations. Boljuni is an out of the way and largely forgotten cemetery.

Aside from the graveyards, I made an all too brief stop at the Inat Ćuprija Bridge which offers a nice perspective along the river, with the nearby mosque of Hadži Alije Hadžisalihović as the main visual highlight. The walls of the Old Town at the top of the hill above the present Stolac looked like a potential point of interest, but exploring them did not fit into my time constraints.

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Stećci

Ilya Burlak USA - 20-Aug-19

Stećci

I visited two of the properties of this serial site in July of 2019 on the way from Mostar to Dubrovnik. One of the best preserved and best known of the stećci cemeteries, Radimlja, is well signposted and located directly on the main road leading into the town of Stolac, making it an accessible and easy stop. I was the only visitor on that afternoon. The two staff members at the visitor center were clearly excited that someone decided to stop by. Having paid a nominal fee for entrance, I got a 5-minute lecture from one of them on the origins of stećci tombstones and their place in local history.

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 19.11.19
  • 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
    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
    Istanbul 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
    Bethlehem 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
    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
    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
    Masada 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
    Necropolis of Bet She'arim 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