Tomorrow’s the day when Eclipsemania hits its height because of course tomorrow is Eclipse day. The solar eclipse is passing over Spain almost exclusively tomorrow, with a hat tip to Greenland a bit earlier. The route goes from north west Spain down to Valencia and then the Balearic Islands before conveniently stopping just before it reaches Sardinia in a sort of “Feck you” to Meloni for being a dick about the Ceuta “Invasion”
It’s an evening eclipse meaning the sun is relatviely low in the sky and so many places are hoping against hope that it’s not cloudy but as Spain has not seen many clouds in the last couple of months the chances are that if you are in the path of the Eclipse you’ll get a good view.
It’s the first full solar eclipse in Spain since 1912 apparently and is going to be followed pretty quickly by another one next year which could be even better apparently (however you measure that) and then another, though not a total Eclipse, in 2028. But there’s a big difference. This one will cover a lot of the country, mostly the area known as “Empty Spain”. The one next year will see its totality solely in the bottom part of Andalucia and GIbraltar/North Africa before moving across the Mediterranean meaning that a small area will be absolutely packed with people. This time many more places will see it and therefore the “eclipse tourism” is more spread out.
This eclipse has mostly filled empty Spain. There is hardly a decent hotel place to be found from Galicia to Valencia on the route of the Eclipse. Usually Spain has very high occupancy in August but that’s mostly on the coast. This time it’s the overlooked areas of Spain “benefitting” from the tourism and it’s not just one day, people have taken whole weeks in unfashionable places to enjoy the “build up” and find the perfect place to watch the Eclipse. What will happen though is that those who are outside the full eclipse zone will be driving in huge numbers towards places where they can get to see the full effects of the Eclipse meaning many people will probably watch from traffic jams having left it too late to get to where they want to see it.
What’s the point of this post though? Well, just to let you know really. The first full solar eclipse for over a century falling in the month when the whole of Spain stops work and Spain is at capacity already due to the height of the summer tourist season is a really big event that large parts of the Spanish and international population can enjoy. It doesn’t cost anything (Apart from the obligatory “Eclipse Glasses”) and is a bit of an amazing thing to witness as really we are all just cavemen and women when it comes to natural phenomena and everyone can get involved… except my mate Dave.
Yeah, because Dave said to me “It gets dark for a bit then it isn’t. So what?” And you know in a way he’s right. But in so many other ways he isn’t. Dave isn’t excited by the eclipse but everybody else very much is.
So the question is where will you be watching it from? I’ll either be in Asturias on a headland in Llanes or somewhere in a traffic jam on the way from Madrid to Northern Spain because of a late flight from the States and a pick up of my youngest. Please make that flight arrive on time and the traffic be light!
The latest Valencia Property podcast arrived in your ears last week and it was 35 minutes choc-full of information about the market and the first half of the year in Valencia Property Land. You can listen to it here and also by clicking on the image below and if you are at all interested in Valencia you should. As the title says, sales down but prices up. How did that happen? We explain it all in the pod.
Equally check out our latest blog post which was all about how to the best ways to cut your fixed costs and set yourself up right for a much more affordable lifestyle in Spain. You can take a look at that post at the link or again, click on the image below.
Until next time, hope you enjoy the darkness!
