Security at the secondary reception entrance.

[Robittybob1]

We saw on the Dispatches documentary the OC had a receptionist in the office there and non guests weren't allowed in.
OK that was after Madeleine went missing, but does anyone describe how security to the OC grounds was handled prior to Madeleine being reported missing?

With guests coming to the Tapas Bar and Restaurant were they vetted before coming on the premises?  Was there a different policy during the day and the night?


43

[sadie]

We saw on the Dispatches documentary the OC had a receptionist in the office there and non guests weren't allowed in.
OK that was after Madeleine went missing, but does anyone describe how security to the OC grounds was handled prior to Madeleine being reported missing?

With guests coming to the Tapas Bar and Restaurant were they vetted before coming on the premises?  Was there a different policy during the day and the night?

My experience is not a lot of use because we visited first in 2010, but at that time there was no security at all.   Nobody monitoring as we walked thru the Tapas secondary reception.  Nobody even in the reception to see us go thru.  No one challenged us when we ordered our meal.  It seemed that it was OK for members of the public to wander in.

[ShiningInLuz]

My experience is not a lot of use because we visited first in 2010, but at that time there was no security at all.   Nobody monitoring as we walked thru the Tapas secondary reception.  Nobody even in the reception to see us go thru.  No one challenged us when we ordered our meal.  It seemed that it was OK for members of the public to wander in.

What was the restaurant called at the time?

And what did you eat that night or nights?

 

[sadie]

What was the restaurant called at the time?

And what did you eat that night or nights?  We only ate there once.  We ate at our hotel which was up Rua Maio, called Beunovista, IIRC and also at the

 

I didn't take note of any special name because i thought of it as The Tapas Restaurant.  In fact i dont remember it having any special name at all.  No-one was in the Tapas Secondary Reception and we just strolled in and out again when we left.

A meal 7 years ago?  Please be realistic.   
But I can remember that altho it was nothing really special, we were pleasantly suprised ... and it wasn't expensive.


Have you eaten there?  What did you have?

We also ate at the Hotel ?Beunovista? where we stayed for three nights ...  A nice little 4* hotol ... Just up Rua Maio from OC.   On the last night we ate at Chaplins restaurant next to the church.  Now thta was a cracking meal for the price and the place buzzed.  Would definitely eat there again.

I can only remember one lunch and that was at the Red Lion ... very ordinary but cheap.  From there I found the decrepid broken steps which I risked my life going down.  At at the bottom was the little rocky beach with the tide in ... but I could still see the entrance to the tunnel that Colin Shakile and his ex Army friend are photographed emerging from.

Strangely one of them died soon after and the other was accused of being a druggie IIRC.  All reference to them seems to have been wiped off the internet

That always makes things doubly interesting to me when they get wiped.  I wonder why they get hidden.

The tunnel they were emerging from was later blocked off and skilfully disguised.  So well disguised that even our chief professional sleuth Heriberto Janosch did not notice that there was a tunnel there until he examined before and after photos.  Then fast as lightening he proved it.  Well done Heri.

I wonder if that tunnel links with the other tunnels in PdL?

[Robittybob1]

My experience is not a lot of use because we visited first in 2010, but at that time there was no security at all.   Nobody monitoring as we walked thru the Tapas secondary reception.  Nobody even in the reception to see us go thru.  No one challenged us when we ordered our meal.  It seemed that it was OK for members of the public to wander in.

No once the excitement was over they may have reverted back to the pre-Madeleine missing control over the entrance.  In the photos we can see a door at the entrance to the reception, can you recall if it would have been possible to close that door at night?  Was it just held open by a simple clip that could be released at any time?

What concerns me was the possibility that someone intentionally or by accident closed that door.  That closed door would also prevent Madeleine finding her mum at the Tapas too.    If the door had a self closing mechanism on it, it could easily have been too awkward for Madeleine to have opened at the time she tries.  Was this possibility prevented by the door being locked open in any way?

[sadie]

No once the excitement was over they may have reverted back to the pre-Madeleine missing control over the entrance.  In the photos we can see a door at the entrance to the reception, can you recall if it would have been possible to close that door at night?  Was it just held open by a simple clip that could be released at any time?

What concerns me was the possibility that someone intentionally or by accident closed that door.  That closed door would also prevent Madeleine finding her mum at the Tapas too.    If the door had a self closing mechanism on it, it could easily have been too awkward for Madeleine to have opened at the time she tries.  Was this possibility prevented by the door being locked open in any way?

Over seven years ago is a long time, but I am sure the door was open when we arrived and pretty sure that it was also open when we left, but I dont believe that scent the dogs followed was Madeleines, cos i dont think that she could have managed all the obstacles in the way.  I think the scent was of the person who lifted Madeleine and was laid down en route from the little Tapas car park to the to the front door ... rather than the reverse.

I think the lifters stronger scent overpowered Madeleines delicate scent on the towel, or whatever was used to 'key' the dogs,

OIMO

[Robittybob1]

Over seven years ago is a long time, but I am sure the door was open when we arrived and pretty sure that it was also open when we left, but I dont believe that scent the dogs followed was Madeleines, cos i dont think that she could have managed all the obstacles in the way.  I think the scent was of the person who lifted Madeleine and was laid down en route from the little Tapas car park to the to the front door ... rather than the reverse.

I think the lifters stronger scent overpowered Madeleines delicate scent on the towel, or whatever was used to 'key' the dogs,

OIMO

Those comfort blankets can get particularly smelly.

[sadie]

Those comfort blankets can get particularly smelly.

Can they?   
Do you think they took a smelly blanket with them to PT ?

[G-Unit]

No once the excitement was over they may have reverted back to the pre-Madeleine missing control over the entrance.  In the photos we can see a door at the entrance to the reception, can you recall if it would have been possible to close that door at night?  Was it just held open by a simple clip that could be released at any time?

What concerns me was the possibility that someone intentionally or by accident closed that door.  That closed door would also prevent Madeleine finding her mum at the Tapas too.    If the door had a self closing mechanism on it, it could easily have been too awkward for Madeleine to have opened at the time she tries.  Was this possibility prevented by the door being locked open in any way?

Each family had a card which was given to them at check-in when they arrived;

secondary reception where the entered without difficulty as they had an access card that they did not ask for but they had been given during the Check-in.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN-10MAY.htm

These cards are used as authorisation when entering facilities;

The bar is open exclusively to resort clients, and that control is made by means of a client card at the entrance to the bar.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/HAYLEY-CRAWFORD.htm

Whether the cards were just shown to staff or whether they could be used to open a closed door I don't know.

[ShiningInLuz]

I didn't take note of any special name because i thought of it as The Tapas Restaurant.  In fact i dont remember it having any special name at all.  No-one was in the Tapas Secondary Reception and we just strolled in and out again when we left.

A meal 7 years ago?  Please be realistic.   
But I can remember that altho it was nothing really special, we were pleasantly suprised ... and it wasn't expensive.


Have you eaten there?  What did you have?

We also ate at the Hotel ?Beunovista? where we stayed for three nights ...  A nice little 4* hotol ... Just up Rua Maio from OC.   On the last night we ate at Chaplins restaurant next to the church.  Now thta was a cracking meal for the price and the place buzzed.  Would definitely eat there again.

I can only remember one lunch and that was at the Red Lion ... very ordinary but cheap.  From there I found the decrepid broken steps which I risked my life going down.  At at the bottom was the little rocky beach with the tide in ... but I could still see the entrance to the tunnel that Colin Shakile and his ex Army friend are photographed emerging from.

Strangely one of them died soon after and the other was accused of being a druggie IIRC.  All reference to them seems to have been wiped off the internet

That always makes things doubly interesting to me when they get wiped.  I wonder why they get hidden.

The tunnel they were emerging from was later blocked off and skilfully disguised.  So well disguised that even our chief professional sleuth Heriberto Janosch did not notice that there was a tunnel there until he examined before and after photos.  Then fast as lightening he proved it.  Well done Heri.

I wonder if that tunnel links with the other tunnels in PdL?

The restaurant had morphed into the Pizzeria da Luz by not later than 8 Jun 2010 - the date of the first capture of www.pizzeriadaluz.com on the Wayback Machine.  It seems to have closed prior to OG's dig in Luz, (when I first became interested in the case), so I never had a reason to eat in it.

I have a paper copy of the menu for Pizzeria da Luz, and it is a standard, simple Italian pizza joint menu.  There is no mention of any of the foods eaten by those testifying re the Tapas Restaurant (steak, roubalo with couscous, sardines, and something with red cabbage).  It is mainly pizza with a few Italian alternatives. In this format, the restaurant was open to the general public, from 6pm to 10.30pm.

Your hotel is the Belavista, known locally as the pink palace.  It has no connection to the case, apart from the fact that Luz Tour 1 started from there.

The pub beside the steps down to the little beach is the Bull.  I don't know when it became the Bull, but I've never heard of the Red Lion.

[Robittybob1]

Can they?   
Do you think they took a smelly blanket with them to PT ?

I had one as a child, my daughter had a rag doll, and the grandson had "Blanky"  that he would sleep with that wasn't ever washed AFAIK. - The smell is the comfort for the child.

[ShiningInLuz]

Ooops.  I forgot to upload this.

Pizzeria da Luz.

[Robittybob1]

Each family had a card which was given to them at check-in when they arrived;

secondary reception where the entered without difficulty as they had an access card that they did not ask for but they had been given during the Check-in.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN-10MAY.htm

These cards are used as authorisation when entering facilities;

The bar is open exclusively to resort clients, and that control is made by means of a client card at the entrance to the bar.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/HAYLEY-CRAWFORD.htm

Whether the cards were just shown to staff or whether they could be used to open a closed door I don't know.

I don't know about you but this thread is beginning to send shivers down my spine.  So we have one security card per family.   Well that isn't going to be so good if Madeleine is made to show her card as enters the secondary reception on her own.
The way I see the events possibly unfolding is that the restaurant manager, as he is arriving and/or later leaving, getting concerned that the security at Tapas Restaurant is not being maintained as they should if they just have the door pinned open, and unpinning the door, as it was supposed to be.  (Kate's idea of telling Madeleine to come over to the Tapas if she wakes up must depend on the door at the reception being clipped open at all times.) 
This is something that the Tapas 9 can check for regularly but it is also something that can't be constantly maintained.

My fear is that at the time when Madeleine tried to open the secondary reception door it was closed and needed the card to open it.  She could not get in on her own.

That could explain why she crossed the road (seeking help).  The tracker dogs follow a trail to the gate and then across the road to the car park.  This path now makes sense to me. 

Does this mean Russell when he returned to the Tapas opened the door again and pinned it back?  For Kate has never mentioned that the door had to be opened when she did her check.  If someone closed the door someone else has to open it again.

[Robittybob1]

Gerry on the use of the security card.  "----- That that was the first time they walked altogether along the route inside and around the resort. They left by the front door, which he locked with the key, he followed the wall around and turned right, going down the side road to the resort up to the secondary reception where the entered without difficulty as they had an access card that they did not ask for but they had been given during the Check-in.
----- After they passed through the secondary reception they went to the TAPAS restaurant,..."  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN-10MAY.htm

and the other "In the summer, her working hours are from 10H00 to 18H00.

The bar is open exclusively to resort clients, and that control is made by means of a client card at the entrance to the bar.

When asked, she says that she does not remember anyone having entered without being authorised."  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/HAYLEY-CRAWFORD.htm


I find this hard to believe.  "she says that she does not remember anyone having entered without being authorised".

[G-Unit]

Gerry on the use of the security card.  "----- That that was the first time they walked altogether along the route inside and around the resort. They left by the front door, which he locked with the key, he followed the wall around and turned right, going down the side road to the resort up to the secondary reception where the entered without difficulty as they had an access card that they did not ask for but they had been given during the Check-in.
----- After they passed through the secondary reception they went to the TAPAS restaurant,..."  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN-10MAY.htm

and the other "In the summer, her working hours are from 10H00 to 18H00.

The bar is open exclusively to resort clients, and that control is made by means of a client card at the entrance to the bar.

When asked, she says that she does not remember anyone having entered without being authorised."  http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/HAYLEY-CRAWFORD.htm


I find this hard to believe.  "she says that she does not remember anyone having entered without being authorised".

She's talking about the bar in to the adults only pool, near Stephen Carpenter's apartment.