Travel around Spain: Juzcar, the first Smurf Village in the World

The village of Juzcar (in Malaga province, Spain) became last June 16, 2011 the first Smurf Village in the world. The Smurfs, hunted by the evil Gargamel, have escaped their village to settle in this village of Malaga province. Juzcar was the village chosen to host "Papa Smurf", "Smurfette," "Clumsy," "Grumpy" and the other blue smurfs for the premiere of the film "The Smurfs 3D".

This village of 250 inhabitants has seen how their homes have gone from the typical white look of the Serrania de Ronda to be quite blue in just three weeks. To recreate the place inhabited by small blue creatures all the houses in the village (175 properties among which include the church, cemetery and the Town Hall) were painted this colour, for what 9,000 kilos of paint were used. The villagers all agreed to the idea, except for one person. "There is a Gargamel everywhere," says the alderman, referring to the owner of the only house that has not changed its colour. In two months over 800 visitors came every weekend attracted by the Smurfs.

WHAT TO SMURF IN JUZCAR

The most prominent building of the village is the church of Santa Catalina, built in the XVI century but very reformed later. From XVIII century remains only the ruins of once famous tin factory. Within the municipality of Júzcar there is a parish called Moclón; for over 300 years, neighbours of Júzcar have made a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of Moclón. The chestnut grove around Júzcar contains a long stretch of trees with changing colours with the seasons.

SMURFING IN JUZCAR

Smurf market: many craft stalls, products from the Serrania de Ronda, gastronomy, Smurf-themed, and a range of activities for children (painting, hiking, workshops ...), during weekends and holidays.

Blue village survey results (Dec, 21, 2011): to decide if keeping the blue colour in the village or returning to the traditional white colour, the Municipality of Juzcar made a survey with the following results:

149 votes in favour of keeping the village in blue

36 votes against keeping the village in blue

4 invalid votes

6 blank votes

Others:

Mycological Days in Genal River Valley

Júzcar Smurf-Trail, First World Smurf-Trail

Quick Painting Contest

ACCOMMODATION

Camping:

campingmoclonjuzcar.blogspot.com

Country Houses:

casasfarajan.blogspot.com

www.alcoverias.com; alcoverias@telefonica.net

Hotel:

www.hotelbandolero.com; info@hotelbandolero.com

HOW TO SMURF THERE

Departing from Costa del Sol or Ronda, take the road A-376. About ten miles from Ronda, turn onto road MA-525, and once past Carjatima you reach Júzcar.

See the location in Google Maps:

http://g.co/maps/y9w6r

OTHER STUFF

Video of the village before painting:

http://youtu.be/MUPk73iHqUY (in Spanish)

Video of the village after painting:

http://youtu.be/jeBvSXvWiQY (in English)