Millions in Spain Witness Country's First Total Eclipse in a Century

Millions of people crowded cities and towns across Spain on Wednesday to watch the country's first total solar eclipse in more than a century, as the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth briefly plunged parts of the planet into darkness.

Crowds carrying lawn chairs and umbrellas cheered and applauded as the sky darkened, first gradually and then suddenly. "It's simply impossible to imagine," said Rosa Celiberti, a language teacher who watched from Medinaceli, a hilltop town in northeast Spain, with tears in her eyes. "No matter how many photos or videos you've seen, nothing comes even close to what it actually feels like."

The eclipse swept across a wide band of northern and central Spain and Portugal, offering some of mainland Europe's best views, and also passed over parts of Greenland and Iceland. Totality lasted less than two and a half minutes at its longest, off Iceland's west coast, dwindling to about a minute by the time it reached Spain just before sunset.

Spanish authorities said the eclipse was expected to draw at least a half-million additional visitors, with hotel demand soaring in cities including A Coruña, Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela. The event coincided with scorching heat above 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) and recent wildfires, prompting officials to set up 350 official viewing sites and deploy more than 33,500 law enforcement officers.

In Reykjavik, clouds obscured much of the view, but hundreds still gathered outside the Hallgrímskirkja church, cheering as darkness fell despite rain. Iceland was experiencing its first total eclipse since 1954 and the first visible from the capital since 1433; hotel rooms there averaged more than $1,000 a night, roughly double last year's rates.

Aboard the cruise ship MS Spitsbergen in Greenland's Rypefjord, Capt. Sverre Rud maneuvered to find clear skies for 126 passengers. "I will do my best," he said. "I will pull out my superman powers."

Across Britain, where the sun was more than 90% obscured, people gathered in parks for the best partial eclipse view since 1999.