Bulgaria and Turkey 2006 - Side and the eclipse

From Worldtraveller

Our destination for the eclipse was Side, on the coast and right in the centre of the track. After an uncomfortable overnight bus ride to Antalya and a quick hop in a dolmus we got there early in the morning on a blazing hot day. Side would clearly be a tourist nightmare in high season, but even with eclipse chasers it was very quiet in March, and pretty impressive with Greek and Roman ruins all around.

Columns by the sea	Greek ruins	Twilight, the day before the ecipse
Ruins at night

Eclipse day dawned clear and sunny. We had a relaxed breakfast, prepared all our camera gear, and then as the partial phases were about to start we walked out to the end of the breakwater at the harbour. Lots of people had had the same idea but we found a spot right out at the end and set up camp.

Eclipse day sunrise

Eclipse watchers on the breakwater

This was my third total solar eclipse and I knew what to expect, but it was still absolutely breathtaking to watch the Sun slowly disappear. The final few seconds are always extraordinary - the daylight disappearing faster and faster, the Sun diminshing to a single point, and then suddenly it being night, with just the faint streamers of the Sun's atmosphere surrounding a black hole in the sky.

The corona

Totality. Jupiter is the bright object at the bottom right

Montage of partial and total phases

After the eclipse was over, we went and sat on the beach for the rest of the day, in a contemplative mood after having seen one of nature's most spectacular sights. The next day we joined the tail end of the exodus from Side, and got an overnight bus to Denizli.

Bulgaria and Turkey 2006: Sofia / Istanbul / Side and the eclipse / Pamukkale / Istanbul again / Plovdiv