It seems the sweetheart padlock trend has reached the Skywalk in Gran Alacant. Couples are beginning to attach padlocks as a symbol of their love to each other and then throw away the key.
The history of this dates back 100 years to a Serbian melancholic tale of World War I.
It began at the “Bridge of Love” in the spa town Vrnjacka Banja. It tells a story of local schoolmistress called Nada who fell in love with an Serbian officer called Relja. After they committed to each other Relja went to war in Greece where he fell in love with a local woman. Nada never recovered, and after some time she died due to her broken heart. As young women from Vrnjacka Banja wanted to protect their own relationships, they started writing the names of their loved ones on padlocks and attaching them to the bridge where Nada and Relja used to meet.
It has become popular worldwide since the early 2000s and has spread all all over the world. Some authorities treat the padlocks as vandalism or litter because the bridges get too heavy and the padlocks need to be cut off, yet others embrace them and use them for fundraising projects and tourist attractions.
