Castillo de Castellar de la Frontera

Today we drove up the tight winding road to Castillo de Castellar de la Frontera. The 12th century castle stands high on the hilltop overlooking the mountains of the provence of Cadiz and the Guadarranque river and reservoir below. The village of Castellar de la Frontera was built within the castle walls - beautiful white washed houses in a maze of winding cobbled streets. We last visited here in May when I blipped the castle.

It was a hot day, slightly overcast and very windy. Walking up the hill into the castle the wind caught my dress - I had to be very quick to stop the wind reenacting Marilyn Monroe's famous windy moment! A local man sitting on the wall seemed to find my predicament very amusing!

This shot is taken from a small balcony, between the houses on the castle wall. The mountains of Cadiz and the Guadarranque reservoir can be seen below. On the railings, couples have added their love padlocks.

The history of love padlocks dates back around 100 years to a Serbian tale from World War 1 and the Most Ljubai bridge (the Bridge of Love) in the spa town of Vrnjacka Banja. A local school mistress named Nada from the town fell in love with a Serbian officer named Relja. After they committed to each other Relja went to war in Greece where he fell in love with a local woman from Corfu. Consequently, Relja and Nada broke off their engagement. Nada never recovered from the break up and some time later died from heartbreak. Young women from Vrnjacka Banja wanted to protect their own loves and started writing down their names and those of their loved ones on padlocks and affixing them to the railings of the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet. Love padlocks began appearing in Europe in the early 2000s. Sweethearts lock their love padlocks to a bridge, fence, gate or similar fixture to symbolize their love. Often their names or initials are inscribed on the padlock and the key thrown away to symbolise unbreakable love.

A few more images of the castle can be seen here.

I'm afraid my commenting will have to be put on hold again as tomorrow i'm off to bonny Scotland for a photography trip with friend and fellow blipper Matthew Lynes..