Baron Edmond De Rothschild

Hi everyone!

Fashion is not just about clothing and accessories; it doesn’t only have to do with what’s trendy and fabulous. As Coco Chanel said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening”.

Men and women that are aware of their appearance and have their own sense of style will always look fashionable, no matter what they wear.

So really fashion is all about the visual – whether it be a Chanel jacket, modern urban architecture or a beautiful garden.

This weekend we discovered an amazing park just forty minutes outside of Tel Aviv where the visual was an awe-inspiring one. The park, called Ramat Hanadiv, was created in commemoration of Baron Edmond De Rothschild and his close family. The baron was a wealthy French man who donated a lot of his wealth during the British Mandate in Israel for the welfare of the first Jewish settlers of the new state.

The park is divided into several different gardens and offers visitors a range of pleasurable pursuits. Throughout the Park are different hiking trails where one will pass through typical Mediterranean terrain, beautiful views at the observation point, sites of prehistoric settlement, and hidden spring – all meant to help preserve the ancient landscape of Israel.

We were highly impressed by the level of maintenance of the beautiful gardens and by how the ecosystems in the park are being sustained. The trees and the foliage are a combination of European and Mediterranean species, creating a visual that is very European with Spanish influence, and at the same time very Israeli.

The park Information Center building is the first and only existing LEED certified building in Israel – a building which follows international rules of sustainable architecture. The building was built inside of a hill, maintaining the natural terrain and designing architecture that goes along with its natural habitat. Electricity at the site is created solely from solar power collected using special solar panels. The plants and trees are all grown at an onsite greenhouse and are watered by a recycled gray water irrigation system.