Travel: Road Trip 2022 -Day 20 – Juzcar – Smurflandia

Sunday 20th February

A cloudy morning here in Ronda- I think the highest temp it got up to was 11 degrees c. today so it was jackets on when we reached the mountains and the blue village of Juzcar.

Juzcar

Situated in the autonomous province of Andalusia, Juzcar has become a hotspot for worldwide travelers.

Juzcar, dating back to the prehistoric period, was just an ordinary white village until approached by Sony with an offer to paint the town blue for the premiere of the Smurf film in June 2011, & becoming the first and only official Smurfs village in the world.

If you wonder why Sony chose this sleepy village nestled in the hills of Andalusia for their world premiere, you should know that Juzcar has a long mycology tradition and the smurfs are especially known for their craving for mushrooms.

Each autumn, the picturesque area surrounding the village is brimming with all kinds of delicious fungi, making for a paradise for mycologists and nature lovers, and perhaps some cachers who also love hunting fungi 🤣

Stopped in our walk for coffee and crepes (served with blue napkins, of course) 🤪

So raging this zip wire wasn’t working 😡

Part of the deal with Sony was to have the village re-painted white but the towns people had a meeting in Dec 2011, and voted to keep the blue. This followed an influx of over 95,000 visitors in the preceding 6 months, compared to the usual annual of 9k visitors- smart move I’d say 👍

Even their own Hollywood on the hill 😍

A delightful place to visit.

I think it was AnnOB who suggested the Smurf village to us, so thanks Ann 😘

In the afternoon we cached our way back to Ronda, enjoying the fabulous mountains and their tiny twisty hairpin roads. and the occasional breakthrough of the sun too ☀️

We walked county lanes by olive groves and hazelnut (I think) trees

It was nice to do some country lane caching after so many cities

So many here – but sure why not …

Cacti and olive trees

What is with the plastic bottles hanging from the trees? All over the place

Finished up our last evening in Ronda with a lovely meal 😍

And packing again in the morning… and on we go ,,,,,