When I think southern Spain, one of the first things that comes to mind is solid white villages, lightly sprinkled into the folds and valleys across the coastline hills. But a few years ago, during the filming of The Smurfs 3D, this iconic tradition was broken… let me explain.

Before filming, in summer 2011, Sony painted a typical white Andaluz (southern Spanish) town blue, presumably because Smurfs are blue. To achieve this, they used 4000 litres (1,100 US gal-lons) of paint, creating a vibrant blue village in Andalusia, Spain.

Due to the unique non-white aesthetic (for those who didn’t know, Andalusia is very well known for its “white” villages, which are exactly what they sound like, villages with white buildings!), Júzcar received a surge in tourism. Wanting to take advantage of said popularity among tourists, the town voted later that year (in December) to keep the buildings blue. You can find numerous Smurf statues and other related paraphernalia throughout the village.

To be honest, I’ve never had a real desire to go to this small town, maybe because Smurfs aren’t really my thing, but, just in case it was the best thing on this planet, I asked a fellow expat here in Spain, Ed Welter, about his recent experience at the Blue Village. Ed is a retired expat from the United States and currently living in Almunecar, Spain. He has been traveling a good portion of the last 40 years all over the world and has been to over 50 countries including remote areas such as the Aleutian Islands, Guyana, and Angel Falls in Venezuela. More recently he has been re-exploring Europe, after having originally backpacked through the continent in the early 1980s. In addition to travel, he enjoys cycling around Southern Spain challenging himself on the tremendous climbs the area offers.

When did you visit Júzcar (The Blue Village)? 
In April, 2016.
 
Is the village easily accessible? 
You can get there by car, but it isn't easy. The road is one of the windiest I have ever been on. We came down from Ronda, but you could go up from Marbella. 

There is little to no traffic getting there, but the real problem is that the roads are so narrow they could barely fit two vehicles by - and with all the curves, you were never sure if there was an on-coming car about to come around the corner at you. It's up in the mountains, and the slopes the roads are on are very steep, with big drops-offs going down the hill.
 
What did you do while there?
We didn't have a lot of expectations. We wanted to just walk through the village and take some pictures of the blue town and any Smurf-related stuff there. We also planned on having lunch in the town. However, there was only one place we could find that seemed like a restaurant, although it was more of a bar and didn't look very interesting or appealing to go into. It's a shame, really - they could have had a nice place by the main town plaza, but didn't. 

We did get some good pictures and they did have a number of Smurf displays from the movie. We just ended up walking through town, taking a few pictures, and leaving. They had a large Papa Smurf, a mushroom house, and large Smurfs in various places. There were some Smurf paintings scattered here and there throughout the town.

How well-maintained is the town? 
The town is clearly a very poor town. There were many loose dogs running around town - more than any other place I have been to in Spain. The buildings are all painted blue, but you could really tell that Hollywood came in and painted the very minimum amount of paint over a white town to make it blue, because the white was showing through in places. Only a couple of places really had a deep or bright blue color; the rest were very lightly shaded. A few homes did put some effort to having their own Smurf displays out on their balcony, which were interesting.

How was your overall experience?
Disappointing. The lack of a nice place to sit and have a coffee or drink and to eat lunch or dinner makes it much less appealing to go out of your way to see. It is a novelty for sure, but it just isn't enough to warrant the detour to get there.
 
Would you recommend the trip to a friend? Why?
No. It's just too out of the way without a lot of payback for doing so. It does make for a few fun pictures, but 600 turns on an almost single lane road on the side of a mountain doesn't make those pictures necessarily worth it.

Well, there you have it! I think this is a great example for the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Just because Hollywood gave it a makeover doesn’t make it a better (or worse) town; it’s a good way to bring tourists in, but, due to lack of really anything interesting, there is nothing to keep the tourists there. 

Today, for some it’s home and, for others, it’s just a blue town that was in a movie a few years ago.

Have you heard of this town before? Did/do you want to visit?

Are there any similar towns where you live? Do you like to travel to movie locations? I’d love to find out in the comment section!

Lars Wagoner is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program

All photos courtesy and copyright Ed Welter