Once upon a time, Júzcar was your typical run-of-the-mill Spanish village featuring whitewashed houses. But then the locals reached an agreement with Sony’s Spanish division to paint everything in blue to promote the release of “The Smurfs,” an utterly dumb movie that nonetheless left a pretty nice legacy. This is because after the promotion ended in December 2011, the locals voted in favor of a referendum to keep the village painted in blue indefinitely because, hey, it had attracted 95,000 visitors during the 6-month promotion. Although the official name remains Júzcar, it is called “Smurf Village” for silly touristy purposes.
