It was the second serious European power outage in less than six weeks after a March 20 fire shut down Heathrow Airport in the U.K.

BARCELONA, Spain — 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.

A widespread blackout across Spain and Portugal upended the lives of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula