Júzcar, the Smurfy blue Spanish town
January 12, 2012 12:47 PM Subscribe

Júzcar is a little Spanish village that voted to stay blue, but their buildings weren't always that hue. In fact, if you view the Google maps, you'll see the traditional whitewashed walls, as you'd expect for one of the (former) White Towns of Andalusia. It happened in advance of Global Smurfs Day, to celebrate the birthday of Peyo (25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992), the Belgian creator of the Smurfs comics. The town was chosen by Sony as the site for the international debut of its new Smurfs movie, who offered to pay for the town to become temporarily blue. The citizens unanimously voted to accept the offer. In September, the 221 residents voted to keep the town blue, as the media coverage was huge, and tourism was boosted from 300 summer tourists to thousands. More photos.

Júzcar is not the only blue city in the world. There is the Blue City of Jodhpur in India (images, Google maps), and Chefchaouen or Chaouen in Morocco (images, Google maps). If you're looking for more, here are a 11 more colorful cities.

posted by filthy light thief (21 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite

Looks smurfin' awesome.
posted by 2bucksplus at 12:53 PM on January 12, 2012

something-something-blue.
posted by Curious Artificer at 12:54 PM on January 12, 2012

Reminds me a little of the entire fake village they built in Malta as a set for the Popeye movie, which is also a tourist attraction now. I guess it's hard to make a kid's movie these days without randomly transforming a small portion of Europe.
posted by theodolite at 1:04 PM on January 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

Regardless of the color, I would love to retire there and farm a bit... though I have no idea if the rainfall years from now will support such a venture.
posted by Slackermagee at 1:08 PM on January 12, 2012

Introducing Mayor Tobias Fünke...
posted by Rock Steady at 1:11 PM on January 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

Regardless of the color, I would love to retire there and farm a bit... though I have no idea if the rainfall years from now will support such a venture.

You'd have better luck in the plain
posted by 2bucksplus at 1:19 PM on January 12, 2012 [12 favorites]

Guys I've played Earthbound, something else is going on here.
posted by The Whelk at 1:21 PM on January 12, 2012 [4 favorites]

Let's hope that it won't end up like the doomed "Smurfland" that was built with great fanfare in the 1980s in Eastern France to give jobs to laid-off steelworkers (who were hired as Smurfs). Jean Baudrillard's take on the question.
posted by elgilito at 1:47 PM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I swear this town has been posted about before on Metafilter, but I can't find it. Anyway, it is indeed awesome.
posted by koeselitz at 1:57 PM on January 12, 2012

I can imagine remote-sensing algorithms running in to difficulty when satellite footage is updated.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 2:24 PM on January 12, 2012

It's more fun when you paint the town red.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:35 PM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

filthy light thief: "In fact, if you view the Google maps"

Oh my gosh. That poor streetview driver.
posted by schmod at 3:15 PM on January 12, 2012

elgilito: Jean Baudrillard's take on the question.

I got an access-restricted message, but this seems to be the English translation, if you were pointing to a section from Screened Out.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:24 PM on January 12, 2012

paging Gabriel Garcia Márquez…
posted by a halcyon day at 4:19 PM on January 12, 2012

Derivative. Tarsem had a real blue city in his amazing movie The Fall
posted by Tom-B at 6:47 PM on January 12, 2012

(that would be Jodhpur)
posted by Tom-B at 6:49 PM on January 12, 2012

My favorite photo. Just looking at it relaxes me.
posted by eye of newt at 8:09 PM on January 12, 2012

Seems an odd reason to repaint and entire town, but I like the result.
posted by asnider at 8:59 PM on January 12, 2012

Wouldn't it have been possible and easier to change all the white buildings to blue through CGI?
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 6:41 AM on January 13, 2012

CGI = Bad. Has Michael Bay taught you nothing?
posted by Blue_Villain at 7:15 AM on January 13, 2012

Well, who would be paying for the change back?
posted by BurnChao at 2:18 PM on January 13, 2012

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Júzcar, the Smurfy blue Spanish town January 12, 2012 12:47 PM Subscribe

Júzcar, the Smurfy blue Spanish town
January 12, 2012 12:47 PM Subscribe