One year ago today (April 28th) we were in the government offices waiting to reapply for our identity cards as our visa renewal had been approved. Our ticket number was up next, so we figured we'd be in and out and back home early. Our gestor (paperwork facilitator) had just spoken to one of the officials and we were ready for fingerprinting and photos. Then, the lights went off. Everyone waited patiently as it was midday and the offices were located in the Plaza España which had enough natural light that no one panicked.
After about twenty minutes our gestor said she had gotten a message from the office and that the blackout was all over Spain and Portugal and parts of southern France. After a while the officials announced that systems were down all over the country and started making paper and pen appointments for those already "in line."
We decided that it would take at least a day to get things straightened out and our gestor recommended coming back on the third day after the failure.
We left Plaza España to find no working tram lines, dead traffic signals, and buses and cars moving with extreme caution as there were no traffic controls in place. It also happened to be a very hot day. We walked home slowly thinking it would be a while so we stopped to refill our water bottles at a potable fountain.
When we arrived home we had no power - so no elevator. We walked up the stairs grateful that our top floor apartment was really only the third floor in US terms. Further, we were thrilled to find the apartment was still reasonably cool despite having turned off the air conditioning before we left.
By 5:30 pm we had power back on but much of the city was delayed for many more hours and some parts of the country were longer than a day.We considered ourselves lucky to be in the same section of the city as City Hall and also the Andalusian government offices, which meant we were among the first to get power when the grid came back online.
We were happy we had power packs fully charged but of course there were no cell signals nor Internet. But we did have books and music and working appliances in the kitchen. Many restaurants were closed as they had let their employees go home midday. It was a very memorable day.
The photo below was published in the news today the one year anniversary of the blackout.
The big black space between north Africa and southern France is where the Iberian peninsula would normally be seen! WOW!
