All the expectations, curiosity, and hyperventilation culminated in what everyone expected: absolute darkness. There were no surprises. For 4 hours and 24 minutes, the eclipse traveled across the Earth from when it emerged over the Bering Sea until it disappeared, at 21:58, in the Atlantic Ocean. But it only took eight minutes of the lunar shadow’s path across the entire country for millions of viewers to stop their lives to watch the first total solar eclipse visible from Spain in the last hundred years.
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It is worth noting that the eclipse made no distinction between territories: official observation points and also unofficial ones –viewpoints, avenues, beaches, squares, lighthouses, rooftops, and hills– were filled throughout the northern strip of the country. The difference between the impact of the total and partial spectacle was almost imperceptible. Once equipped with certified glasses, the astronomical event became a collective celebration, a great explosion of admiration that took over public spaces to share, alone or accompanied, a moment as precise as it was hypnotic.
Total darkness traveled from Galicia to the Balearic Islands in eight minutes
At 19:30, the Moon emerged over the solar disk in Galicia, marking the start of the first phase of the eclipse, the partial phase. Almost an hour later, at 20:26, the third phase, totality, began at the same point. The luckiest town, where the total darkness lasted the longest in the entire Peninsula, was Luarca (Asturias), with a duration of 1 minute and 50 seconds.
Between these two phases, just before the eclipse reached 100% darkness, the diamond ring was glimpsed: a sliver of light on the upper left edge that caused successive flashes. The ring gave way to Baily’s beads, produced by the last rays of light that managed to sneak through the irregularities of the lunar terrain –craters and valleys– and appeared as beads on the upper left edge of the satellite before it was completely covered. As if the star resisted disappearing entirely, even if only for just over a minute in most of the country.
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Spain was, in fact, the best-positioned country to observe a large part of the solar eclipse’s path. The path of totality crossed much of the north of the country, from west to east. The natural blackout could be enjoyed from towns, provincial capitals, and large cities, following a route that passed through A Coruña (with 1 minute and 16 seconds of total eclipse), Bilbao (with 31 seconds), Zaragoza (with 1 minute and 25 seconds), Valencia (for 1 minute), and Palma (with 1 minute and 36 seconds).
During the last minutes of the afternoon, the only enemy of the millions of viewers, the weather, gave a reprieve across almost the entire visibility strip. Only in some parts of the Castelló plain, and the coasts of Galicia and Asturias, did some clouds manage to cover the astronomical event, despite the mobility along the Cantabrian coast increasing traffic by 20% on the main coastal highway, the A-8.
In Catalonia, the Civil Protection plan was activated in the morning in alert phase to monitor mobility and the very likely collapse of roads and highways. Those who chose not to leave Barcelona could also enjoy the spectacle if they were lucky enough to have visibility from rooftops and balconies.
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The AP-7 accumulated up to 20 km of traffic jams towards Tarragona and queues repeated at night
Still, a few minutes before 19:30, the AP-7 southbound reached up to 20 kilometers of traffic jams in sections spread between Subirats, Gelida, El Vendrell, Torredembarra, Roda de Berà, and Tarragona. At the same time, the Ferrocat plan was activated in pre-alert phase due to heavy crowds at the Sants and Sant Vicenç de Calders stations. The return on the AP-7 was dense, and the pre-alert was reactivated due to crowds in Tarragona, Tortosa, and Altafulla.
Regarding Rodalies, the R16 (line extending from Barcelona to Vinaròs, passing through Tarragona and Ulldecona) doubled its daily occupancy this Wednesday. The R15 (Barcelona-Reus) also recorded up to 60% more than its usual occupancy.
In the Valencian Community, part of the population moved to natural areas that were closed to prevent fires.
In the Balearic Islands, the scheduled traffic restriction time was moved forward by two hours due to the large influx of vehicles. At 13:00, parking lots at the most sought-after spots in the northwest and north of Mallorca were full.
At 21:58, the episode that had enchanted an entire country came to an end. From then on, only a wait of 354 days remained for that darkness that had created such expectation to emerge again. The trio of eclipses was already underway.
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