Farewell, Mataró and the power outage that brought (almost) everything to a standstill

April 28 – Farewell, Barcelona, Mataró, and a power outage that brought (almost) everything to a standstill.

Today was a day for goodbyes. At 8:30 AM, we took Stefan to the airport – for him, the adventure ends here. With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to him as he set off for home. But for us, the journey continued.

Our next destination: Barcelona. More specifically, only the famous Camp Nou stadium today. Unfortunately, we were limited to a short stop there – we couldn't find a suitable parking spot with the camper, as there were almost exclusively underground garages. So it was just a brief pause before we drove on to the Barcelona campsite, where we parked our camper.

From there, we took the free camping site beach bus to the beach of Mataró, a small town with beautiful sandy beaches. Around 1 PM, I sent a few photos and greetings back home – but suddenly it was over. No more internet. At first, we thought it was a local outage. So we walked into town to the bus stop for our campsite shuttle. We noticed the hustle and bustle: The police were directing traffic - like Louis de Funès - at the traffic lights as if there was a major event happening.

Back at the campsite, we went to the restaurant – there we were asked if we could pay in cash. We were a bit surprised. It got even stranger at the supermarket: pitch dark. I shopped with my phone flashlight. At the campsite wash area, I felt my way in the dark to the restroom and shower – the water was ice-cold. There was still no internet. So we decided to go to bed early. At 8 PM, it was curtains for today – no internet - no blog post, no news, just darkness.

This morning came the explanation: A widespread power outage has incapacitated Spain and Portugal! No wonder nothing worked yesterday. An unforgettable day full of contrasts – from the pain of farewell to sunshine at the sea to a life almost like in an off-grid adventure.