Alto Douro is the part of the river valley where natural conditions conspired to create a unique environment for wine production that dates back over 2,000 years. Fortified wine – …
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
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01July 11, 2025Greece: Ancient Towers of the Aegean Sea
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25Dec. 4, 2024Hungary: Caves of the Buda Thermal Karst System, Hollókö, Le Chateau-fort médieval d'Esztergom ...
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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
Ratings
World 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
Oporto (Inscribed)
Oporto
Porto is a colorful city that has become an instant favorite. Although its core area is fairly compact, it is not for weak walkers: the city is built into hillsides, …
University of Coimbra (Inscribed)
University of Coimbra
Coimbra University, founded in 1290, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the Portuguese-speaking world. Its recognition as a WHS links it to the city as an example of …
Monastery of Alcobaça (Inscribed)
Monastery of Alcobaça
On our itinerary around Portugal in April of 2019 we covered all of the monasteries in the "triangle" north of Lisbon. Alcobaça is the unflashiest of the three, but also …
The Palaces of King Ludwig II… (Inscribed)
The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria
I visited two of the three castles in this serial property ages ago. They likely deserve full WH recognition purely on the strength of the world-wide fame of Neuschwanstein. Just …
Paseo del Prado and Buen Reti… (Inscribed)
Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro
I've been to Madrid many times over the years and on each occasion I take time to walk the length of Paseo del Prado from Plaza de Cibeles to the …
The Karlstejn Castle (On tentative list)
The Karlstejn Castle
My one and only visit to Karlštejn Castle took place nearly a decade ago, but seeing that there are no other reviews for it, even a dated one might be …
Medici Villas and Gardens (Inscribed)
Medici Villas and Gardens
I have not yet been prioritizing visits to the WH sites when I last was in Tuscany, so my familiarity with this serial property is limited to Boboli Gardens. Even …
Volterra (On tentative list)
Volterra
It is hard to compete with such illustrious neighbors as Siena or San Gimignano, so Volterra probably deserves its second-tier billing when it comes to Tuscan destinations. The historic town …
The Historic City of Dublin (Removed from tentat…)
The Historic City of Dublin
I visited Dublin a couple of times, most recently in 2017, and set aside some time for exploring, but the reality is that there is little to explore there that …
Ellis Island (On tentative list)
Ellis Island
Ellis Island has been an entry point for over 12 million immigrants to the United States over the course of 60-plus years. The descendants of those immigrants nowadays make over …
Central Park (Nominated)
Central Park
It is surprisingly hard to write a review of one's home area attraction. I've been to Central Park in New York City a few hundred times, in conservative estimation, likely …
Brooklyn Bridge (On tentative list)
Brooklyn Bridge
Among the industrial-age technological monuments, Brooklyn Bridge has few equals in terms of innovation and impact. When built, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it employed …
Ancient Greek Theatres (On tentative list)
Ancient Greek Theatres
While touring Greece in the summer of 2018, I stopped by a number of its World Heritage sites, and had a chance to see theaters at Delos, Acropolis (called Dionysos …
Late Medieval Bastioned Forti… (On tentative list)
Late Medieval Bastioned Fortifications in Greece
My visit to this site was rather marginal. During a stay in central Crete in the summer of 2018, I explored Heraklion for about half a day. Included in the …
Centre ancien de Sarlat (On tentative list)
Centre ancien de Sarlat
I spent time in Sarlat-la-Canéda, frequently called simply Sarlat, in the late spring of 2018 as part of a week-long stay in Périgord. Its charming medieval core is a maze …
Giant's Causeway (Inscribed)
Giant's Causeway
I visited Giant's Causeway in the spring of 2017 by driving half the island of Eire from Dublin to see the unique natural phenomenon. The Causeway is the result of …
Stoclet House (Inscribed)
Stoclet House
There is very little that I can add to what the other reviewers said before me about this underwhelming site. The optics of bestowing a World Heritage designation on something …
Mantua and Sabbioneta (Inscribed)
Mantua and Sabbioneta
The towns of Mantua (Mantova in Italian) and Sabbioneta are paired into a single World Heritage site on the basis of representing two different facets of Renaissance city planning: …
Poblet Monastery (Inscribed)
Poblet Monastery
My frequently professed affinity for sacred architecture did not translate into surpassing appreciation of Poblet Monastery. I saw an impressive enough complex which I could not call extraordinary. The historical …