‘The first of our lives’: Thousands in Spain rush for best spot to watch total solar eclipse (3/4)
France 24 · LC · trust 51/100
From our special correspondent in Madrid – Thousands of people in Spain were buzzing with excitement as they dashed to find the best location from which to view Wednesday's total solar eclipse. Trains were jam packed, travellers booked last-minute carpools and social media users shared the best viewing spots. FRANCE 24 met several eclipse enthusiasts as they set off from Madrid.
By: Pauline ROUQUETTE Many trains at the Madrid-Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station were fully booked on the eve of the eclipse on August 12. © Pauline Rouquette, FRANCE 24 On the eve of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse , Spain , which is set to offer some of the best views in mainland Europe , was buzzing with excitement. Thousands of people were travelling to find the best location to witness a rare few minutes – sometimes even seconds – of darkness.
Madrid , which lies outside the path of totality – the brief moment when the sun is completely blocked – felt particularly quiet as the capital emptied of residents flocking to see the eclipse in regions in northern and eastern Spain.
With just one day to go, social media posts in groups for eclipse chasers were growing fast.
“I’m going to watch the total solar eclipse from Almazan,” a medieval town in the province of Soria, Daniel Ostrowski wrote in a Facebook group, in a post with a photo of a sunset taken on Sunday evening from Madrid’s Cerro del Tio Pio park.
Many trains at Madrid-Chamartín-Clara Campoamor station are fully booked on the eve of the eclipse on August 12. © Pauline Rouquette, FRANCE 24 “Is anyone else planning to watch it from there too, and come back straight afterwards?” he asked. Almazan lies some 200 kilometres northeast of the Spanish capital.
Some social media users were looking for a lift; others were grappling with last-minute cancellations and hunting for a replacement vehicle.
The lucky ones who’d already arrived at their perfect locations proudly shared photos of the view they'd chosen – each quietly confident that they picked the best spot.
With mainland Europe set to witness its first total solar eclipse since 1999, FRANCE 24 is dedicating a series of articles to this astronomical event – one of the continent’s most anticipated of the decade – with upcoming reports from the path of totality in Spain.
• From Solar corona to human emotions: What can we learn from eclipses? (2/4)
As the day went on, the queue for the baggage check – compulsory for boarding the trains – at Madrid-Chamartin-Clara Campoamor station grew longer and longer.
The vast majority of trains to Leon, in northwestern Spain, were fully booked.
And there were no seats left at all on trains to Gijon and A Coruna – two coastal towns in the Asturias region, particularly popular with eclipse-watchers – for either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Magali and her son Maxime, who had travelled from France, were headed for Galicia, in the far northwest of the country.
Although they hadn't planned to travel there specifically for the eclipse, they had organised their travel so that they could watch the eclipse from a village situated on the edge of the path of totality.
“Galicia isn’t as touristy as the Mediterranean coast, but it’s a magnificent region and I think the eclipse is a great way to discover it,” said Magali, who was delighted to be able to watch it from the depths of the countryside.
“In 1999, I watched the total eclipse in France from the roof of the building where I worked. This time, it’s going to be a bit more interesting: we’ll need to pay attention to the surroundings, the animals and the shadows too.”
Read more From Solar corona to human emotions: What can we learn from eclipses? (2/4)
At the back of one of the waiting rooms, where every seat was taken, a mother was playing with her two young children, who were struggling to sit still.
The Spanish regions of Castile and Leon, Asturias and the Valencian community are among the best places from which to view the eclipse on August 12, and are therefore likely to benefit the most economically from this astronomical phenomenon.
Experts also believe that the eclipse marks a historic opportunity for the development of tourism in rural areas in inland Spain, known as ‘Empty Spain’ because of the massive rural exodus that took place during the 1950s and 1960s.
The three eclipses due to take place in 2026, 2027 and 2028 could generate more than 1.3 billion euros in tourism spending in Spain, according to a report produced by International Financial Analysts (AFI) for Airbnb.
Castile and Leon rank among the autonomous communities with the highest projected economic impact, after the Valencian community and Madrid.
Eleni, her husband David and their two boys, aged six and three, were sitting on their luggage as they waited for the platform for the 12:15pm train to Valencia to be displayed. They had arrived the day before from New York and planned their trip for the sole purpose of watching the eclipse.
“We saw one other one – the partial eclipse we saw was in Colorado in 2017 [around 90 percent coverage in that western US state, Ed]. And then we looked up when the next eclipse was and we saw it was here. So we planned to come here,” explained Eleni.
Several members of their family were already waiting for them in Valencia and they were planning to watch the eclipse from the beach together.
The best spots to watch the eclipse in Spain. © FRANCE 24 graphics studio “It's a big day; it’s sure to be magnificent,” added David. He also mentioned the Perseid meteor shower (considered the best meteor shower of the year) which will add even more magic to the celestial spectacle, hoping that his eldest son will remember it for a long time to come.
A little further on, some fellow Americans from California were checking their tickets on a mobile phone. April and Bill had been planning their trip for months, and their 12-year-old son Jonathan was joining them too.
The family had already travelled through part of…
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