The Field Trip to Traben-Trarbach on the banks of the Moselle in Germany took place between Saturday 15th and Wednesday 19th July 2023, and followed an earlier visit by Steve and Jean in 2013, on which they reported at the 2013 Convention.

The reasons for our interest in Traben-Trarbach were firstly because a sixteen year old Dennis Wheatley was sent there to live with the family of his father's business colleague Julius Kayser between May and December 1913 to learn the wine trade, and secondly, because the town features early on in DW's first wartime (1940) Gregory Sallust novel, 'The Scarlet Impostor', when Gregory is sent there on a secret mission.

Everyone made their own way to Traben-Trarbach. Some came from the U.K., and others came from elsewhere in Germany or from Switzerland. In my wife and my case, we met up with Ken and Mary in Lille, and they drove us through France and Belgium (and past places mentioned in 'Julie's Lovers') down to the Porta Nigra (the Roman 'Black Gate') in Trier, where we met up with Steve and Jean and thence made our way to Traben-Trarbach, where we met up with the others.

For the duration of our short trip, we all stayed at the Romantik Jugendstil Hotel Bellvue on the west bank of the Moselle, a lovely old hotel chosen partly because Julius Kayser used to sit there with his friends sipping wine and looking across the river at his newly built winery back in the day, and partly because Julius Kayser's house is now an annexe to the hotel. We could see the Kayser connection to the hotel in some of the old photographs which hung on the dining room walls.

After having settled in and been made to feel very welcome by the charming Ukranian lady who ran the bar, we ate dinner ensemble, and then went to our beds.

Clockwise from top left: Julius Kayser's house, the monument to his wife, Fritz Kayser's house, Bruno Möhring's bridge, the view opposite the hotel, the Town Hall.

On the Sunday and Monday, we wandered around the town. On the Traben (west) side, south of our hotel, we saw Julius Kayser's house (now an annexe of the hotel we stayed in), the house of Julius' mother-in- law, Frau Haussmann, the old railway station (now a tourist centre) where DW would have arrived, and the churchyard where many of the Kayser family are buried. On the Trarbach (east) side, we saw the rather fine house in which DW lived during his stay, which belonged to Julius' cousin, Fritz Kayser. In his memoirs, DW recalled how Fritz proved to be a 'far from likeable personality' but how he found Fritz's wife to be rather charming.

On the east side we also saw from the outside the old Town Hall to which DW used to go for dances, and we went up the bell tower. We are still not sure if we should have paid an admission fee - if we should have, I'm afraid we didn't!

The Monday saw us visiting Julius Kayser’s vast winery. Relatively new when DW visited, and designed by Bruno Möhring, who also designed the current bridge across the Moselle and many of the town’s other most prominent buildings, it is now a Buddha Museum. When Nat and I first heard this, we had mental images of lots of tatty, touristy Buddha images, and this could not have been further from the truth. Financed by a local man who made his money in software and now owns a local (and apparently very expensive) hotel, it houses a collection of probably thousands of ancient Buddha images from around the world, all of the most stunning quality. Nat and I have toured in and lived in South East Asia extensively, and we doubt there is a comparable collection anywhere else in the world. Its extent and quality were simply breath taking, and we felt the calming influence of our surroundings as we wandered round the exhibits.

In the basement there was evidence of the building’s former use as a winery, and on the roof, there is not only a central tower (in which Julies Kayser used to have his personal office), but a garden flanked by two cupolas in which one can sit and admire the views and soak up the atmosphere. You can see some of us doing just that in the above photo. The T-shirts were provided by Ken and Mary.

On the Monday, we climbed the steep hill on the east of the town up to the ruined castle. As we passed the vines, Anna reminded us of DW’s description of the ground in ‘The Scarlet Impostor’ … ‘It was intensely hot in the vineyard; much hotter than up on the open road, owing to the slate which was scattered all over the ground to catch the sun’s heat and reflect it up on to the bunches of grapes below the leaves so that they should ripen properly’, and of how the whole of the hill was ‘covered with tall vines, differing from the low, French variety in that each was trained up a five-foot stake.’ As ever, DW was scrupulously accurate with his details.

On the way down, I was particularly grateful for the kindness of a couple of our number who helped me down the slope so I would not exacerbate an old ankle injury. As they always do, the group looked after its fellow members.

Interestingly, although there is a photo in DW’s memoirs of a young DW and his father and Julius Kayser sitting on a balustrade with the castle as a backdrop, we were unable to match the photo to the view. Perhaps even in those days photographers were able to insert backdrops behind their sitters. We remain unsure.

On the Tuesday, we took a boat up the Moselle to Bernkastel, another incredibly picturesque town on the banks of the river, and one which figures prominently in ‘Julie’s Lovers’. Unlike Traben-Trarbach, where non-German visitors were few, Bernkastel was full of tourists. After a spot of lunch, Nat and I took a local bus up to the ruins of the old castle, perched on the top of the hill with a commanding view of the local countryside. After making our way back to the town, we had time for a quick shop before returning to the boat and joining the others. The others had done similar things, with one of our number buying a couple of bottles of ‘Bernkastler Doktor’, a wine mentioned by DW.

On the Tuesday evening, we asked the Ukranian bar lady if she could make us a ‘peach bowle’; a drink to which DW was introduced during his stay, and which he enjoyed making for his friends throughout the rest of his life. Interestingly, the hotel did not have the recipe, but with a little guidance from us they improvised, and they gave us something similar. It was delicious.

And so to the end of our stay. On the Wednesday morning we all checked out and went our separate ways. Some went on the other parts of Germany or to Switzerland. In my wife and my case, Keith and Marion very kindly gave us a lift to Frankfurt airport for the flight home, on the way stopping at Koblenz for lunch so we could catch sight of the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine, and catch a glimpse of the famous fortress, which figures prominently in DW’s first novel, ‘Julie’s Lovers’.

Then, armed with memories, photos, and in some cases several bottles of excellent Moselle wine, off back home.

Many thanks to Steve and Jean for reminding us over the years that we ought to pay a visit to Traben-Trarbach - they were quite right!

C.T.H.B.

October 2023