At Românași, in the valley of the Agrij in Sălaj county, the outline of a Roman fort called Largiana can still be traced on a low rise above the village, its rectangle of ramparts and ditches softened by centuries of ploughing. It stood on the road that ran from Porolissum, the great frontier stronghold to the north, down towards Napoca, today's Cluj, and it housed an auxiliary unit guarding the approach to the Meseș mountains. Archaeologists have found inscriptions, coins and pottery here, and the site is part of the Dacian frontier listed by UNESCO in 2024.
Sălaj is a county of low hills, woods and small villages, often overlooked by travellers rushing between Cluj and the Hungarian border. Its wooden churches, built by Romanian communities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, are tall and slender with steep shingled roofs, and several survive in the villages around Românași. The Meseș ridge, forested with beech and oak, separates the county from the Transylvanian basin, and the pass across it on the road between Zalău and Cluj offers broad views.
For riders, the main road between Zalău and Cluj over the Meseș pass is a good run, with curves and climbs and generally decent surfaces, though trucks are common. The side roads through the Agrij valley and the villages are narrower and quieter, with gentle bends, patched tarmac and the usual village hazards of dogs, carts and chickens. The countryside is green and peaceful, at its best in spring and early autumn.
The county town of Zalău is a quarter of an hour away and handles petrol, cash machines and repairs; in the villages, expect a small shop and, if you are lucky, a bar with a bench outside. Look for local specialities such as sour soups, cabbage rolls and home-made cheese, and enjoy the slower pace of life in this quiet corner of Transylvania.