BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The blackout that engulfed the Iberian Peninsula on Monday was chaotic and stressful for many. But it had a silver lining: People were forced away from their screens and into the “real” world, connecting with the present and one another. Some Spaniards and Portuguese embraced their day without power.

The outages occurred just hours before the Iberian Peninsula was hit by power cuts that crippled the countries' infrastructure.