The Christmas light show in Spain's Vigo is a tourist attraction, but can it top the Big Apple as its mayor would like?
ADVERTISEMENTFor five years, Abel Caballero, mayor of the Spanish city of Vigo, has had an obsession.
"I want to tell the mayor of New York to get ready because he's going to see the lights of Vigo from there," he declared.
From his small office in the Atlantic coast city, the 77-year-old Caballero plans the lighting every year, and when Christmas comes, he challenges the mayor of the Big Apple.
The first message was addressed to Bill de Blasio, and this year it was the turn of the current mayor, Eric Adams.
"New Yorkers will be jealous because Vigo's lights are simply the best," he said.
That's not just the 11 million LED lights decorating the city's streets, but also the 44-metre Christmas tree, giant Ferris wheel, skating rinks and even snow machines that work wonders in a southern European city that hasn't seen snow since 1987.
The spectacle costs the city of almost 300,000 inhabitants 2.37 million euros each year.
Europe's most popular mayor?
Every year, Caballero, a socialist politician, starts a duel that the mayor of New York has so far refused to enter.
But the Spanish mayor is not giving up, fighting a David vs. Goliath battle on the international stage because he has won everything at home.
He won a landslide victory in the country's last local elections in May and, after 16 years in power, the mayor rules with an absolute majority.
His longevity is remarkable in a country where political volatility has been rife in recent years.
Do Christmas lights have anything to do with this electoral majority?
"Christmas has a lot to do with me being the most elected mayor in Europe," Caballero told Euronews.
"But the most important thing is the constant dialogue with the people. It is about making the dialogue, the attention to the people, even a chat in the street, something permanent," he added.
Though he attributed his success to several factors, there is no doubt that his Christmas fight is known throughout Spain. It has sparked the curiosity of Spaniards who travel to the city every year to see the light show for themselves.
Before it started, Vigo had 20% hotel occupancy on some Christmas weekends. This has completely changed and now the city is usually full.
Euronews called a hotel in the city centre to check. They have no rooms available for the weekend and they told us that it will be difficult to find anything that is not booked.
Letting Europe know about Christmas in Vigo
The man who served as the country's transport minister in 1985 returned to local politics to bring Christmas back to his city, among other things.
"I love Christmas, I have wonderful memories of it as a child. When I was young, society was different, less developed, but we lived Christmas very intensely," said the mayor.
ADVERTISEMENT"When I was 20, I was studying at Cambridge University and could not return to Spain for political reasons. It was during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and I spent Christmas there with Cristina, my wife. We enjoyed it all the same, but with a great longing for the rest of the family," he continued.
For this reason, the mayor wants Christmas to be a shared experience and for those who come to Vigo to feel at home.
"Vigo has become a kind of symbol for Christmas throughout Europe. We want it to be the same in America, and that is why we improve it every year," says Caballero.
You might think that after lighting up 450 streets in Vigo, the mayor's house would be an extension of the lighting dream, but nothing could be further from the truth.
"We don't have Christmas lights at home because it would be impossible to outdo the decorations in the city," he explains.
ADVERTISEMENTOn the streets of Vigo, voices are raised against the "waste" of public money and energy.
Nevertheless, Caballero claims that the use of LED lights has reduced the city's consumption. But experts argue that these lights cause light pollution that is in many cases worse than that caused by traditional light bulbs.
The mayor defended himself by saying: "Everything has its critics these days, right?"