Millions of people have traveled across Spain in anticipation of a rare total solar eclipse, with astronomers, tourists and skywatchers racing to find locations offering the clearest possible view of the spectacular event.
Online forums have been buzzing with discussions about potential cloud cover, weather conditions and the best places to watch the eclipse. Hours before large parts of Spain were due to experience the country’s first total solar eclipse in more than a century, excitement was building across the country.
“It will be spectacular,” Cesar Gonzalez, an astronomer and science communicator at the Madrid Planetarium, told The Guardian, describing a total solar eclipse as “one of the best spectacles in nature.”
Gonzalez planned to set off early Wednesday and travel north toward Burgos, where he intended to find an isolated location with a clear view of the horizon.
“The first open field I find, where I can see the horizon and the sky is clear, that is where I will stay,” he said, explaining that he planned to spend the day waiting for the eclipse.
Spanish authorities estimate that up to six million people could gather along the eclipse’s path on Wednesday. The path stretches for roughly 200 kilometers, from A Coruña in northwestern Spain to the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.
A small part of Portugal, as well as areas of Greenland and Iceland, will also experience totality. Tens of millions of other people across Western Europe are expected to witness a partial eclipse, with the Moon covering much of the Sun in areas including the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Switzerland and northern Italy.
Spain, however, is expected to offer some of the best viewing conditions in continental Europe.
“The strip of land affected [for seeing the total eclipse] is very small,” Gonzalez said, noting that weather conditions in Greenland and Iceland are generally less favorable.
An estimated 460,000 people have traveled to Spain specifically for the celestial event, with hotels reporting bookings made months in advance by visitors from countries including Japan and the United States.
More than 300,000 visitors are expected to head into rural towns and villages in search of the best possible view of the less-than-two-minute period during which the Moon will completely block the Sun and cast its shadow over Earth.
Among the international visitors is Angela Jones Rieksts from Halifax, Canada, who traveled to Burgos with her 21-year-old daughter.
“I’m very excited to see it,” she said.
Rieksts experienced her first total solar eclipse about two years ago in Miramichi, Canada, an experience she described as overwhelming.
“I was just absolutely awestruck,” she said. “It felt like God’s eye was looking down at me from the sky.”
The excitement has spread throughout Spain, with many optical stores and pharmacies reporting that eclipse glasses have sold out.
Spanish airline Iberia also planned to provide live images from a charter flight designed to observe the eclipse from around 10,000 meters above sea level. Madrid’s Prado Museum joined the celebrations as well, releasing an artificial-intelligence-generated video imagining how the eclipse might transform the light surrounding some of its masterpieces.
Spanish authorities have spent months preparing for the event, anticipating as many as 1.5 million additional car journeys. With weather alerts warning of temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius and a high risk of wildfires, more than 24,000 police officers are expected to be deployed.
For French visitor Stéphanie Racco, the journey to Spain had been months in the making.
“I read the news around December and said, ‘OK, I have to go,’” she said. Her last total eclipse was in 1999 near Paris, and she wanted to share the experience with her children.
She and her eight-year-old twins left the Côte d’Azur the previous Thursday and traveled gradually toward Salou, a resort town south of Barcelona.
Racco said she was surprised to discover that few of the other tourists at her hotel appeared to have traveled specifically for the eclipse.
“I think I’m the only one in this hotel who came just for the eclipse,” she said.
While other visitors headed toward nearby beaches and water parks, Racco focused on finding the precise location where her family could get the clearest view.
“Salou could be a good place, but I’m not sure because I’m seeing a lot of clouds,” she said, adding that she was prepared to drive several hours into the countryside if necessary.
For eclipse enthusiasts unable to see Wednesday’s event, however, another opportunity is already on the horizon.
“I just saw that next year there will be one in Egypt,” Racco said. “So maybe if I miss this one, I’ll try again next year.”
