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 10.07.19 137 WHS Visited 62 Reviews 137 WHS Rated 29 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ilya Burlak

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Legend

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

Recent Reviews Ilya Burlak

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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Mostar

Ilya Burlak USA - 19-Aug-19

Mostar

Mostar left probably the most vivid impression for me from the entire July 2019 trip to Dubrovnik and Split WHS hotspots. I have had so far very limited exposure on my travels to places where mosques and minarets are the most eye-catching features, let alone when they are mixed with very recognizable European architectural elements. Mostar is inscribed on the World Heritage list specifically as a great example of a multicultural town where proverbially the East meets the West; despite the crowds and the inescapable tourist-trap feel of the area around the Old Bridge, the high banks of the Neretva river in the center of town are visually just stunning.

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Trogir

Ilya Burlak USA - 13-Aug-19

Trogir

The historic center of Trogir sits on a tiny island – roughly 500 meters long and 250 meters wide – which can be fairly closely explored in the matter of a couple of hours. The town is visually appealing and picturesque but for me falls short in the Wow! department.

The main points of interest are the cluster of buildings around the main public square; the Riva waterfront with Kamerlengo fort at one end; and a number of churches and palaces. Somewhat strangely for my usual expectations, all churches in the center (except the cathedral) appeared not open to visitors in midday in early July; I did not have any plans to see palaces' interiors (and never researched if that is even possible). So, my visit largely consisted of walking around and admiring exteriors

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Profile Data

Name
Ilya Burlak
Country
USA
Website
website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 10.07.19
  • Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga
  • Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik
  • Kotor
  • Dubrovnik
  • Split
  • Trogir
  • Mostar
  • Stećci
  • Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings
    • 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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Stećci 2
    Rock-Art of the Mediterranean Basin 1.5
    Van Nellefabriek 1.5
    Stoclet House 1

    Reviewed TWHS