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el concierto
Fito y Fitipaldis!! Hola a todos!
Two weeks ago I went to the concert of a Spanish rock band that I like a lot, Fito y Fitipaldis. They have been on tour in Spain since January after they released their latest album "Antes de que cuente diez" (meaning: Before 10 is counted or Before you count to 10) last fall. The concert was in Zamora, the capital city of one of the provinces in Castilla y León that borders Portugal. I went to the concert with one of the teachers that works at the other high school in Guardo, Juan, and his friends. He's from Zamora and returns there every weekend, so when I found out that one of Fito's concerts was going to be in Zamora, it turned out Juan was interested in going too so I arranged to go with him! The concert was on Friday night, April 30th so on Friday afternoon after school let out I left Guardo with Juan around 3 pm. Zamora is fairly far from Guardo (about 2.5 hrs by car) so I hadn't been there before but I found it to be a beautiful city. It has the largest urban concentration of Romanesque architecture in
Zamora
the Romanesque cathedral Spain, a beautiful Romanesque cathedral, attractive streets and lots of night life.
When we arrived in Zamora around 5:30, Juan showed me the public bikes that can be rented for free in Zamora (if you are a city resident and have applied to get a card to use with the system.) Juan gave me his card and I set out to explore the old part of the city on bike while he ran some errands. I had only taken a few loops around some of the plazas in the historic center when I unfortunately got a flat tire! (From going up against a curb I think...) So I returned the bike to the nearest station and decided to continue my tour on foot instead of taking out another bike. When I returned to Juan's house about 2 hours later we were laughing about the flat tire because he had recently had some bad luck with his mountain bike in Guardo and had gotten 2 flat tires in one week! I think he must have passed his jinx on to me... Anyway, I enjoyed exploring Zamora and saw all of the most attractive places in the historic center. I was
Zamora
the old walls of the city, the río Duero and the Romanesque bridge feeling kind of cheap and decided not to pay to enter the cathedral (I've been in SO many cathedrals in Spain at this point anyway...) but I did walk all around it and explored the remains of the castle that is nearby.
I returned to Juan's apartment around 7:30 and we got ready to go out to get something to eat before heading to the concert. His girlfriend Alicia arrived with 2 of her friends, María and Lorena and I walked with them to a bar with montaditos (small sandwiches) and other tapas. In the bar we met up with one of Juan's friends, Jorge, who had been an English teacher at my school in Guardo, I.E.S. Claudio Prieto, last year! It was fun to talk to him about my experience there and about a lot of the teachers that we mutually knew. He is now teaching English in Zamora.
From the bar we walked to the outdoor concert venue (newly built!) which is across the river from the historic center and a little ways down the road. Zamora has a population of about 66,000 inhabitants so it's not that big of a city and you can walk
Zamora
inside the remains of the castle fairly easily to a lot of places. By the time we got there, around 8:45, the opening band had already started playing (La Cabra Mecánica..."The Mechanic Goat" hehe). We sat outside the venue until close to 10 pm though to pregame (or "botellón" as it's called in Spain) while we listened to their music. Fito y Fitipaldis came on at 10 pm and the concert lasted until about 12:30! I really had a good time and the sound quality of the venue was great! If you're curious to know what Fito y Fitipaldis' music is like you should check out some of their songs on You Tube.
After the concert I went out in Zamora with Juan and his friends and had a lot of fun. On Saturday I went out to lunch with everyone at a nice restaurant with outdoor seating across the river from the historic center (had some of the best views of Zamora's cathedral and old walls!) Around 5:30 pm I was able to get a ride back to Palencia with María (who is from Palencia) and we arrived in the city just in time for me to catch the last bus back to Guardo
Zamora
the castle with the cathedral in the background on Saturday evening (leaving at 7:15 pm).
Going to my first concert in Spain was a great experience, especially considering it was a Spanish band that I could probably never see live in the U.S. I will be going to another concert in Madrid in a month which I'm super excited about as well...MUSE!!!
Hope everyone is doing well. This afternoon I'm heading to Madrid for the weekend. It will be nice to leave Guardo considering how cold it has been here lately! Madrid should be much warmer. It snowed some here early last week and today it was snowing lightly a little while ago! Until my time in Guardo I had never seen snow in May!!!
Besos,
Dana
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Tio Buck
non-member comment
looks like more fun!
Well, I can see that you are still having lots of fun! Thanks for sharing. Tio Buck