Spermezeu is a village in the hilly country of western Bistriţa-Năsăud county, in northern Transylvania, where low ridges covered with orchards, hayfields and beech woods roll between the Someş valley and the Ţibleş mountains. The site called Spermezeu - Lazuri belongs to the series of places along the northern edge of the Roman province of Dacia, part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire listed in Romania in 2024. Here the Romans watched the border with watchtowers and small fortifications on hilltops, and though little remains above ground, the commanding views explain why these spots were chosen.
Roman Dacia was conquered by Trajan in the early second century and held for about 170 years. Its northern frontier in this area did not follow a continuous wall but a chain of watchtowers, forts and earthworks along the hills, watching the valleys that led north into free Dacian territory. Archaeologists have found traces of towers, ditches and pottery, but the landscape has long since reclaimed most of it.
The region has deep literary roots. The novelist Liviu Rebreanu, one of the founders of the modern Romanian novel, was born in Târlişua, just a few kilometres from Spermezeu, and his books about peasant life in Transylvania draw on this very landscape. Near Năsăud, the poet George Coşbuc was born in the village that now bears his name.
Riding here is a matter of quiet, winding country roads with little traffic, linking villages with wooden churches, traditional houses and wells. Surfaces vary from good new asphalt to potholed stretches, and you will meet horse carts, cows and dogs. The hills offer pleasant curves and views of the mountains to the north. May and September tend to be loveliest, when the orchards are in blossom or full of fruit, and the light is soft. Summer can be hot, and winter brings snow and ice.
Spermezeu is a village with basic services. For fuel, head to Beclean on the Someş or the larger communes nearby such as Căianu Mic, seven kilometres away. Food in the region is rich and homemade: soups, cheeses, cured meats, and pălincă, the strong fruit brandy, offered as a sign of hospitality.