In most of the towns and cities that dot the landscape of southern Spain, you can paint your house any color you want, as long as it is white.

But a small community is an exception. Although it is hidden in as remote a place as one can imagine, it has become world famous and attracted thousands of visitors.

All because its huddled houses, which house some 218 residents, are a dazzlingly bright blue.

Blame it on the filmmakers and the Smurfs.

For decades, Júzcar, located near Ronda in Andalusia, slept among rugged mountains and chestnut forests. Gone was the tin factory, the first in Spain, founded there in 1727.

Then suddenly he rose to world fame: Sony Pictures decided to release their comedy film “The Smurfs” in the village.

(The film is based on a Belgian comic book series and an animated television series screened in the 1980s.)

They claimed it was the kind of quirky place where the Smurfs cartoon characters would live.

Amazed by this opportunity to rise to Hollywood-style fame, the villagers embraced the idea with enthusiasm.

Sony hired 12 unemployed locals to paint all of the city’s buildings bright blue, using 4,000 liters of paint.

As a publicity stunt, it was a sensation. Crowds of visitors have been driving down the narrow mountain road towards Júzcar since the premiere in 2011.

They take photos alongside the Smurf puppets on the sky-blue streets, gawk at the cemetery and church (also painted blue with special permission from the bishop), and try on the colored caps, yes, you guessed it. , blue.

There have been weddings in blue, Smurf art festivals, and trade shows promoting all things blue.

In fact, the villagers are so pleased with the attention their replica of the Smurfs village has attracted that they have turned down Sony’s offer to repaint all the original white.

Mayor David Fernández (nicknamed Papa Smurf) held a referendum and by 141 to 33 residents, some dressed as Smurfs, voted to stay blue.

Local businesses have agreed to promote the town (a hotel, a camp, three bars) as the “Smurf Village”. The movie people may be gone, but the Smurf mania is still alive in the mountains of Spain.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *