Uncertainty, worry, and calmness among tourists in Barcelona amid blackout

Tourists caught in the blackout in Barcelona have been left with difficulties finding food, accessing their accommodation, and contacting families back home amid the mass power outage across the Iberian peninsula, but overall, the mood was one of relative calm in the Catalan capital, as visitors took the strange and unique circumstances in their stride and continued enjoying the warm spring weather with drinks in bars. 

Some travellers that Catalan News caught up with on Monday, like Abdul from Newcastle, were left unable to enter digital-only apartments they were staying in, while others, such as Sheena and Catherine, were unable to find the rest of their family due to the lack of phone coverage. 

Despite, the "uncertainty" and "worry" expressed, the prevailing mood was one of calmness, as Janis and Sandra, from Latvia, enjoyed washing down their €16 lunchtime set menu with a full bottle of wine that "did the business" after first struggling to find a restaurant that was able to serve hot food, while Gaia and Julia, from Rome, were confident that the connection would return soon enough. 

Sheena and Catherine had planned to take the metro to Park Güell today but instead had to walk the long distance, a journey they described as "a lovely walk, but very long." 

Abdul has a flight back home on Tuesday and expressed concern about making it. "I'm not sure if everything will be back to normal by the morning," he told Catalan News. Like the rest of the world, he said he "still doesn't know what's happening because we haven't accessed the news or anything on our phone, so we don't know what's going on or why this is happening."

Instead, Abdul's plan for Monday was just "enjoying the sun and enjoying the views." For the afternoon, his first priority was to "look for somewhere to eat, but most places don't take card, card machines aren't working," he said.

In fact, card machines not working was how he first realized the scale of the issue. After going for a run by the beach in the morning, he tried to buy water but was unable to in all bars and restaurants. 

In La Boqueria food market, just off La Rambla boulevard, tourists first came into contact with the power outage when all lights suddenly went dark. According to Catherine and Sheena, who were there at the time, "everybody started cheering." 

Amusement quickly turned to worry as Sheena explained that they "had lost my husband and my son and the phones wouldn't work, we couldn't get a hold of them."

They returned to their accommodation hoping to get wifi, but found there that no electricity was available at all. Luckily, the husband and son also had the same plan, and half an hour later they were reunited.

For Sandra and Janis, food might have been the first priority, but making contact with their children back home in Latvia was the next thing to do - a task they found impossible with no connection. 
After some hours of uncertainty, they received a message from their children, easing their fears of a wider blackout.

"We should probably today let them know we're okay as well, probably they're worried, we don't know," Sandra commented, while Janis pointed out that "the worry is about the phone battery level because everything is in the phone," and the pair "don't have a power bank."

Perhaps the calmest were Gaia and Julia, two young Italian tourists, who say they quickly understood that what was happening was a power outage when they noticed that all shops around them had no electricity. 

They admitted it was "really strange" to see a busy city left without electricity, and were left unable to buy ice cream in a store because of the power outage.

Despite the bother, they were assured that power would return soon. Gaia explained to this outlet that her father was able to contact her and told her about power being restored in France, "so hopefully it's something easy to resolve."