Mavi Boncuk | According to Frans R.E. Blom, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam, the very first real Dutch tourist visiting Lesvos and writing about his experiences was the son of a Dutch regent: Gerard Hinlopen from Hoorn[1]. This young man departed in 1670 for a two year journey towards the unknown world and after seeing Spain and Italy boarded a fleet with the destination of Smyrna (now Izmir) in the Ottoman Empire. Along the way the young man from Hoorn escaped an attack by Barbary pirates and spent a night in a Livornese cell . In Smyrna, having had enough of his travel companions, he disguised himself as a Turk and set off with a Turkish shipper along the coasts en route to Constantinople.
[1] In a book subtitled "A native of Hoorn in the Ottoman Empire" Joris Oddens [*]describes the fortunes of Gerard Hinlopen. On September 30, 1644 Gerard Hinlopen was born in Hoorn from the marriage of Reynier Ottszoon Hinlopen (1609-1693) and Trijntje Trijn Daughter of Noy (1607-1646). Hoorn family Hinlopen has its origins in 1582, when out of the Frisian Hindeloopen fled (Reynier Ottszoon) Reinder Ottensz (Gerard's grandfather) settled in the city. After studying law at Leiden Got Hinlopen taste of traveling address. So he quickly took a trip to Italy and the Ottoman Empire. After his return from the Ottoman Empire's Hinlopen presumably been active as a merchant. His managerial career ended in the late The special journal that Hinlopen wrote about his journey provides a comprehensive picture of his experiences. Gerard Hinlopen died on October 2, 1691, two days after his forty-seventh birthday.[*] Joris Oddens on the 17th c. travel diary of Gerard Hinlopen
Een vorstelijk voorland Gerard Hinlopen op reis naar Istanbul (1670–1671)
With illustrations. 272 pp.
ISBN 978.90.5730.602.0