Dârjiu is a Székely village of around eleven hundred people in Harghita county, and at its heart stands one of the fortified churches that UNESCO lists among the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania. Most of those villages are Saxon and Lutheran; Dârjiu is Hungarian-speaking and Unitarian, which makes it something of an odd one out and all the more interesting. A ring of thick walls and towers encloses the church, built so that villagers could shelter from raiders, and the tradition of storing smoked bacon and grain in the fortress towers lasted here long into modern times.
Inside, the church is known for its medieval wall paintings from the early fifteenth century, including scenes of the legend of Saint Ladislaus pursuing a Cuman warrior, a story that turns up on walls across the old Hungarian kingdom. The paintings survived partly by luck, under later whitewash, and they are worth the small effort of finding whoever holds the key. Ask in the village; someone usually knows.
Riding in, you come through the rolling uplands between Odorheiu Secuiesc and Sighișoara, a landscape of low hills, beech woods and huge open pastures where shepherds still move flocks between villages. The roads are mostly narrow county tarmac with patched surfaces, some potholes and the odd stretch of gravel on the shortcuts. Horse carts are common, and so are cows that consider the road theirs. Take it gently and you will enjoy the rhythm of crests and dips, with a church tower marking each village.
Mugeni, five kilometres away, is the nearest place of any size, and Odorheiu Secuiesc, further north, has fuel, banks and proper restaurants. Look out for kürtőskalács, the chimney cake baked on a spit, and for the carved Székely gates in front of the farmhouses. If your ride continues to Biertan or toward Sighișoara, you will be crossing from Hungarian to Saxon heritage within an hour, and Dârjiu, with its bacon towers and its painted knight, is the perfect counterpoint to the grander Saxon churches you will see later.