Recent rains help Girona's Temps de Flors flower festival bloom amid drought restrictions
Frenetic pace among organizers to have everything ready for Saturday's opening
The fresh scents of spring are already in the air in Girona ahead of the opening of the 69th edition of the 'Temps de Flors' flower festival which gets underway on Saturday.
The northern Catalan city will be filled with 137 installations spread over 109 spaces.
In the old town, the epicenter of the festival, organizers are moving at a frenetic pace to have everything ready for Saturday's opener.
The steps of the cathedral, its underground basement areas, the Arab Baths, and the bridges that cross the Onyar river are all given new life this week:
The floral installations are adapted to the ongoing drought situation. Some even directly address the climate crisis in their theme.
In designs where the flower is natural, sponges are used to retain water, whereas some are also combined with dry or more drought-resistant plants.
"We're using much less water than in previous years because we have changed the protocol and are using plants and flowers that can withstand humidity much better", said Gemma Geis, Girona deputy mayor:
In addition, the recent rains have made it possible to use less water than initially planned to create the installations.
Back in 2022, Catalan News visited the Temps de Flors flower festival for a special episode of our podcast, Filling the Sink.