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 famous all over the world and has attracted thousands of visitors.
All because its crowded houses, which house some 218 inhabitants, are a dazzlingly bright blue.
Blame it on the filmmakers and the Smurfs.
For decades, Júzcar, located near Ronda in Andalucía, slept among rugged mountains and chestnut forests. Gone was the tin factory, the first in Spain, founded there in 1727.
Then suddenly it shot to global prominence: Sony Pictures decided to release its comedy film “The Smurfs” in the village.
(The film is based on a Belgian comic book series and an animated television series shown in the 1980s.)
It was, they claimed, the kind of quirky place where cartoon characters from the Smurfs would live.
Awed by this opportunity for Hollywood-style fame, the villagers jumped on the idea with enthusiasm.
Sony hired 12 unemployed locals to paint every building in the city brilliant blue, using 4,000 liters of paint.
As a publicity stunt, it was a sensation. Throngs of visitors have been making their way up the narrow mountain road towards Júzcar since the premiere in 2011.
They take photos together with the Smurf puppets in the light blue streets, gawk at the cemetery and the church (also painted blue with special permission from the bishop) and try the colored “tapas” (traditional bar snacks), 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 Smurf village has attracted that they’ve turned down Sony’s offer to repaint it all white.
Mayor David Fernandez (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 campsite, three bars) as “Smurf Town”. The movie people may be gone, but the smurf mania lives on in the sierras of Spain.
