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Tel Aviv at Night #2, Templars Multi-Cache

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Crow T Robot: Please contact me if this one is resolved. Thanks.

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Hidden : 8/25/2008
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Until recently this Templar colony was hidden between the government buildings and the military compounds. It has been reconstructed and you can enjoy this lovely green park in the heart of busy Tel Aviv. The park is in walking distance from the Azrieli Center and the Shalom Train Station.

This cache is part of the Tel Aviv at night series, so you can also search for it at night, but it's a good idea to take a small pen light. At night you can easily recognize the Templar houses because they are lit up.

In order to find this cache you will need to find the name of the Templar Agricultural Community that was located here, in what today is the Kiriya neighborhood of Tel Aviv. You can look it up on the internet (can use keywords: Templar, village, Tel Aviv) and prepare most of the calculations of the final coordinates ahead of time (suggested) or you can discover it along the way (make sure you bring pen/pencil and paper to calculate and the English alphabet if you do not know the order of the letters by heart.)

We sometimes had difficulty getting the same consecutive readings for a point – possibly due to tall buildings (or antennas/radar?) Please use the hints if necessary.

Part 1. Kaplan Street
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N 32o 4.390 E 34o 47.237

This main entrance road to Tel Aviv was always a bottle neck for traffic. The city decided to widen the street to 3 lanes in each direction.

In order to save the 5 Templar houses that were located on Kaplan Street, The Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo performed a comprehensive conservation program of the entire Templar colony that cost 26 million shekels and took 5 years.

This extraordinary engineering feat of moving the 5 Templar houses back 100 meters whole was quite phenomenal. After being checked and every detail marked (in case of damage while moved) the houses were moved along railroad like tracks only a mm at a time.

This area will become a large tourist area and the houses will be restaurants and stores. Scheduled opening is 2009 in coordination with Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary.
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To calculate the next coordinates (to see photos of the Templers):
You should be standing in front of a Templar house. Look at the house number which is on the side of the house facing Kaplan St. It is a 2 digit number.

The first digit is "A"
The second digit is "B"


Part 2. Who Were the Templers?
-------------------------------
Calculate these coordinates:
N32o B4.A90 E 034o 47.255

The Templars were a German-Christian sect that arrived in the Ottoman-controlled Holy Land in mid-1880 and began to build communities in different parts of the Holy Land. As they settled here they brought with them their unique housing construction as seen here in this park and many advances in construction and road transport. (The Templers established a regular coach service between Haifa and the other cities and as a result, by 1870 there was a thriving tourist industry, especially in the pilgrim traffic between Jaffa and Jerusalem.)

This community was the first Templar agricultural colony and here they produced oranges which were the first to carry the famous "Jaffa Orange" brand.

To calculate the final coordinates:
If you did not find the name of this agricultural community ahead of time, You have a chance to see it at these coordinates. The center photo on the table shows what it looked like. At the bottom of this photo is the 6 letter name of this community.

Take this 6 letter name and give each letter its numerical value by it's place in the alphabet where "a" is 1, " b" is 2…. " z" is 26.

The value of the 1st letter in the name is "C"
The value of the 2nd letter is "D"
The value of the 3rd letter is "E"
The value of the 4th letter is "F"
The value of the 5th letter is "G"
The value of the 6th letter is "H"

Part 3. Banished Templers and The Cache
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The British discovered that the Templars were Nazi sympathizers. They were rounded up by the British in 1939 and deported out of Mandate Palestine. Some returned to Germany, but most of the Templar community's members emigrated to Melbourne, Australia.
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Calculate the final cache co-ordinates as:
N 32o B (C-F) . A B (D+H) E 34o (E-G) (G/2) . H 8 D

Cache is in a black 35 mm film container.
Original Cache contains: log book papers, small tiger balm container, mobile phone charm
Please bring your own pen/pencil to sign in and a very small item if you want to trade.

After finding the cache, please put away your GPS and enjoy the park and the interesting Templar buildings. We found one building that if you look through the window you can see all the equipment for making olive oil. (building number 108 at David Elber St. 22)

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Cneg 1. 3eq ubhfr sebz Rynmne Fg. Cneg 2. Ba cvpavp gnoyr Fbhgu Rnfg bs ubhfr. Cneg 3. Gerr nybat Xnyzna Zntra Fg. arkg gb jnyxvat cngu Cneg 3. Va ebbg bs gerr pbirerq ol n tenl ebpx.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)