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, …
Ilya Burlak
United States of America \ Member since January 2017
#319 179 37 5
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. I look forward to visiting them all after I retire...
Check out my website: Burlaki.com
Recent Visits
- 
        01July 11, 2025Greece: Ancient Towers of the Aegean Sea
- 
        25Dec. 4, 2024Hungary: Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System, Hollókö, Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom ...
- 
        51May 14, 2024Peru: Arequipa, Cuzco, Lima ...
Top 10 Missing
About Ilya Burlak
- Member since
- January 2017
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
Visits
- Rank
- #319
- WHS
- 179
- Tentative Sites
- 37
Website Participation
- Reviews
- 123
- 
            
  
    Ratings
  
  RatingsWorld Heritage Sites- Cordoba 5.0
- Works of Antoni Gaudí 5.0
- Amsterdam Canal Ring 5.0
- Florence 5.0
- Wadi Rum 5.0
- Brugge 5.0
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands 5.0
- Ravenna 5.0
- Siena 5.0
- Loire Valley 5.0
- Rome 5.0
- Costiera Amalfitana 5.0
- Paris, Banks of the Seine 5.0
- Kremlin and Red Square 5.0
- Venice and its Lagoon 5.0
- West Norwegian Fjords 5.0
- Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 5.0
- Vienna 5.0
- Petra 5.0
- Prague 5.0
- Granada 5.0
- St. Petersburg 5.0
- Segovia 5.0
- Kraków 4.5
- Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 4.5
- Acropolis 4.5
- Stonehenge and Avebury 4.5
- Bryggen 4.5
- Assisi 4.5
- Grand Place, Brussels 4.5
- Vatican City 4.5
- Istanbul 4.5
- Sintra 4.5
- Seville 4.5
- Villa Romana del Casale 4.5
- Pompei 4.5
- Oporto 4.5
- San Gimignano 4.5
- Versailles 4.5
- Toledo 4.5
- Brú na Bóinne 4.0
- Drottningholm 4.0
- Old City of Jerusalem 4.0
- Kinderdijk 4.0
- Cologne Cathedral 4.0
- Tikal National Park 4.0
- Schönbrunn 4.0
- Rietveld Schröderhuis 4.0
- Potsdam 4.0
- Verona 4.0
- Roskilde Cathedral 4.0
- Giant's Causeway 4.0
- Gwynedd Castles 4.0
- Westminster 4.0
- Tower of London 4.0
- Edinburgh 4.0
- Delos 4.0
- Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra 4.0
- L'viv 4.0
- Machu Picchu 4.0
- Chichen-Itza 4.0
- Monastery of Batalha 4.0
- Convent of Christ in Tomar 4.0
- Monastery of Alcobaça 4.0
- Dubrovnik 4.0
- Split 4.0
- Budapest 4.0
- Chartres Cathedral 4.0
- Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 4.0
- Botanical Garden, Padua 4.0
- Urbino 4.0
- Avignon 4.0
- Alto Douro 4.0
- Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4.0
- Mostar 4.0
- Albi 4.0
- Mount Etna 4.0
- Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.0
- Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 4.0
- Ferrara 3.5
- Bursa and Cumalikizik 3.5
- Pienza 3.5
- Villa d'Este 3.5
- City of Bath 3.5
- Québec 3.5
- Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3.5
- Bom Jesus do Monte 3.5
- Graz 3.5
- Kotor 3.5
- Fortified City of Carcassonne 3.5
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini 3.5
- Pont du Gard 3.5
- Cuzco 3.5
- Old City of Berne 3.5
- Kronborg Castle 3.5
- El Escurial 3.5
- Tarraco 3.5
- Arles 3.5
- Mycenae and Tiryns 3.5
- Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios 3.5
- Arab-Norman Palermo 3.5
- Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5
- La Fortaleza and San Juan 3.5
- Val di Noto 3.5
- Archaeological Site of Delphi 3.5
- Guimarães 3.5
- Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin 3.0
- Evora 3.0
- Trogir 3.0
- Hollókö 3.0
- Vézère Valley 3.0
- Strasbourg 3.0
- Statue of Liberty 3.0
- Reims 3.0
- Great Spa Towns of Europe 3.0
- Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3.0
- Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 3.0
- Modena 3.0
- Agrigento 3.0
- Belem 3.0
- Masada 3.0
- The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria 3.0
- The Porticoes of Bologna 3.0
- Kew Gardens 3.0
- Val d'Orcia 3.0
- Incense Route of the Negev 3.0
- Syracuse 3.0
- Fortifications of Vauban 3.0
- Mantua and Sabbioneta 3.0
- San Marino and Mount Titano 3.0
- Arequipa 3.0
- Belfries 3.0
- Canterbury 3.0
- Odesa 3.0
- Maritime Greenwich 3.0
- Alcala de Henares 3.0
- University of Coimbra 3.0
- Medici Villas and Gardens 3.0
- Lima 3.0
- Neolithic Orkney 2.5
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2.5
- Bethlehem 2.5
- Belize Barrier Reef 2.5
- Poblet Monastery 2.5
- Old City of Acre 2.5
- Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 2.5
- Beemster Polder 2.5
- New Lanark 2.5
- Independence Hall 2.5
- The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá 2.5
- Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley 2.5
- Novodevichy Convent 2.5
- Schokland 2.5
- Biblical Tells 2.5
- Forth Bridge 2.5
- The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 2.5
- Necropolis of Bet She'arim 2.5
- Wadden Sea 2.5
- Santa Maria delle Grazie 2.5
- Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5
- Venetian Works of Defence 2.5
- Pannonhalma 2.5
- Skogskyrkogarden 2.5
- Major Town Houses 2.5
- Minoan Palatial Centres 2.5
- Semmering Railway 2.5
- Dutch Water Defence Lines 2.0
- Canal du Midi 2.0
- Stecci 2.0
- Nice 2.0
- Bahá’i Holy Places 2.0
- White City of Tel-Aviv 2.0
- The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 2.0
- Frontiers of the Roman Empire 2.0
- Van Nellefabriek 1.5
- Stoclet House 1.0
- Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.0
- Qhapaq Ñan 1.0
- Mount Carmel Caves 1.0
 Tentative Sites- Ellis Island
- Central Park
- Nuruosmaniye Complex
- Nuragic monuments of Sardinia
- Early Synagogues in the Galilee
- Iznik
- Salt Mines of Maras
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Orvieto
- Ripa Pannonica in Hungary
- Jerusalem
- Volterra
- Zadar - Episcopal complex
- Centre ancien de Sarlat
- Carcassonne fortresses
- Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece
- Early Chicago Skyscrapers
- Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade
- Ödön Lechner's independent pre-modern architecture
- Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System
- Royal Seats in Esztergom, Visegrád
- Civil Rights Movement Sites
- Ancient Towers of the Aegean Sea
- Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom
- Pombaline Lisbon
- Ancient Greek Theatres
- Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex
- Caesarea
- Makhteshim Country
- Ein Karem
- Degania & Nahalal
- The Crusader Fortresses
- Amalienborg and its district
- The Karlstejn Castle
- Les villes antiques de la Narbonnaise
- Stolac
- The archeological site of Tanais
 
- 179 37
- Locations
- 0
- Zones
- 0
Reviews by Ilya Burlak
 
  
  Trading Posts and Fortificati… (On tentative list)
Trading Posts and Fortifications on Genoese Trade
 
  
  Bursa and Cumalikizik (Inscribed)
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 …
 
  
  Iznik (Nominated)
Iznik
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 …
 
  
  Su Nuraxi di Barumini (Inscribed)
Su Nuraxi di Barumini
I visited Su Nuraxi in September of 2023 on a self-driven tour around Sardinia. Due to the structure of my itinerary, Su Nuraxi was the fifth Nuragic site that I …
 
  
  Nuragic monuments of Sardinia (On tentative list)
Nuragic monuments of Sardinia
I visited 4 of this serial site locations in August-September of 2023 on a self-driven tour around Sardinia, in addition to the already inscribed Su Nuraxi di Barumini.
Santu …
 
  
  Edinburgh (Inscribed)
Edinburgh
A well-reviewed city such as Edinburgh hardly needs additional adverts, so I will primarily add my voice to the general admiration that it produces from everyone who visits. I've been …
 
  
  Neolithic Orkney (Inscribed)
Neolithic Orkney
I visited all four components of this WHS in March 2023. With an asterisk, more on which later.
The two freely-accessible parts, the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones …
 
  
  The Colonial Transisthmian Ro… (Inscribed)
The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá
I visited both components of the site in December 2022 while on a layover in Panama City. I will agree with the previous reviewers that Casco Viejo (or Casco Antiguo …
 
  
  Nice (Inscribed)
Nice
In September of 2022, I had a chance to reacquaint myself with Nice, having explored it first over twenty years earlier. As with any reasonably large city, it has quite …
 
  
  Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvr… (Inscribed)
Caves of Maresha and Bet Guvrin
I am giving Bet Guvrin the same rating as the community average, but I probably would have rated it higher if not for the abbreviated nature of my visit. A …
 
  
  Venice and its Lagoon (Inscribed)
Venice and its Lagoon
Having just returned from my fifth trip to Venice - but the first for nearly a decade - I feel compelled to say something about a timeless place that is …
 
  
  Padua’s fourteenth-century fr… (Inscribed)
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
It is hard to say anything original about the magnificence of these frescoes. This serial site is definitely one of the most impressive of its kind. Visiting all of its …
 
  
  Early Chicago Skyscrapers (On tentative list)
Early Chicago Skyscrapers
In May of 2022, I took an hour-plus out of my business-trip itinerary in Chicago to visit the buildings in this serial property. In a notable fail of the expedition, …
 
  
  Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings (Inscribed)
Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings
I found an opportunity to visit Frederic C. Robie House in Chicago recently, which was my third visited building for this property. True to the inscription, the house exhibits discernible …
 
  
  Mount Etna (Inscribed)
Mount Etna
I rarely prioritize nature over culture when traveling. Even with my comparatively short roster of WH sites, Mount Etna is only the fifth natural or mixed site that I visited. …
 
  
  Syracuse (Inscribed)
Syracuse
Our trip to Sicily in September of 2021 budgeted time only for Ortigia, the historic nucleus of Syracuse that has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years. The island is …
 
  
  Val di Noto (Inscribed)
Val di Noto
On a trip around Sicily in September of 2021, I stayed several nights in Noto and visited Scicli, Ragusa, Palazzolo, and Catania each for a few hours.
Noto is …
 
  
  Villa Romana del Casale (Inscribed)
Villa Romana del Casale
I visited Villa Romana del Casale in September of 2021. It is undoubtedly among the most unique and impressive monuments of antiquity. The very short WH inscription mentions the richness …
 
  
  Agrigento (Inscribed)
Agrigento
I visited the archaeological area of Agrigento, officially known as “Valley of the Temples”, in September of 2021. This is, in essence, a collection of stand-alone highlights, of which the …
 
  
  Arab-Norman Palermo (Inscribed)
Arab-Norman Palermo
On a week-plus trip around Sicily in September of 2021, we started with a day and a half in Palermo. Ended up visiting four components of the serial site: the …
