I have friends who invite me to visit their city, area, country where they live. “Come and see how beautiful is here!” And they lay out the landmarks to visit. And I’m thinking, if I were to invite someone to visit Bucharest, what would I suggest they visit? Apart from a few parks, museums, the Center, the Old Center, what else can be visited in Bucharest? I have the privilege of being born in Bucharest, I live in Bucharest, it’s a metropolis, but I don’t know it very well, there are neighborhoods I haven’t set foot in. So I decided to play tourist in Bucharest.
And I started with the Armenian District. I looked at the map to see where it was demarcated and what sights would be worth visiting. 2 art museums, the Dârvari Hermitage and the Armenian Church, as well as a lot of old houses, some in ruins, some well preserved, and some beautifully renovated. There are also some modern buildings, which do not really fit the place. You have something to look at in this neighborhood, if you ignore the inconvenience called “cars”. Cars parked on the sidewalk, cars speeding through the narrow, crowded streets. That’s not what I want to talk about. But about the Dârvari Hermitage. A little irritated that I couldn’t quietly look at the architecture and freely choose the angles for the pictures, because I had to avoid cars, I stepped into the courtyard of the hermitage. I felt the energy of the place immediately! As if a wall had intervened between the street and that place. It was like an oasis of calm and peace in the middle of the city chaos. After lighting a few candles, I thought it would be nice to have a fountain there. It was hot and I had finished my bottled water. And the next step was next to a water pump! Beautifully framed in marble, without the well-known inscription “this fountain was donated by…”, it was only there to quench the thirst of those walking in the yard. I entered the church and sat on a bench, as I usually do in churches. I sit there and “breathe” the peace and quiet of that place. And sometimes thoughts come to me like little revelations. Then, for example, watching 2 women whose pain was visible on their faces, praying fervently and kissing the relics, I was thinking how some say that suffering is a choice. I don’t think that suffering is a choice, you can’t remain indifferent when disaster hits you, when you lose loved ones, your home or your health. But staying in pain for years is a choice. The daily reminder of suffering is a choice. Not looking for solutions to get out of suffering is a choice. Blaming yourself, others, the times, God, is a choice. I left the hermitage with such a full soul that I didn’t even want to visit the Armenian Church. I said goodbye and promised to come back.
