Security at the secondary reception entrance.

[ShiningInLuz]

We were there is june/july 2010.  I cant remember anything like steak or roasts being on the menu.   I dont care too much for Pizzas, but do like spaghetti bolognese.  Maybe that is what we had.  Just asked hubby and he cant remember either.   The place was a bit like 5A, pretty basic, but clean and matching furniture and OK .

You are right, the pub with steps, now repaired, down to the little beach is the Bull ... and not The Red Lion (which is the symbol of Judah)

Thanks for that SIL 

If pizza was not to your taste, the alternatives were limited.

3 salads.  Goat's cheese. Char grilled chicken and bacon.  Tuna.  Salads €6.50 to €8.50.

4 mains. Marinated chicken breast with a braised butter bean, vegetable and chorizo stew. Lemon and garlic king prawns, chips and lemon mayonnaise.  Gnocci with a wild mushroom and Gorgonzola sauce, fresh rocket and Parmesan shavings.  And of course, spag bol. Mains all €8.50.

Moving back to the thread title, am I correct in assuming you simply walked in off the street, that both reception doors (exterior and interior) were open, that there was no staff member at reception, and that you did not need a card of any kind to enter?

Mid-2010 will tell us a limited amount about mid-2007, but such tiny pieces of information often prove invaluable.

 

[Robittybob1]

If pizza was not to your taste, the alternatives were limited.

3 salads.  Goat's cheese. Char grilled chicken and bacon.  Tuna.  Salads €6.50 to €8.50.

4 mains. Marinated chicken breast with a braised butter bean, vegetable and chorizo stew. Lemon and garlic king prawns, chips and lemon mayonnaise.  Gnocci with a wild mushroom and Gorgonzola sauce, fresh rocket and Parmesan shavings.  And of course, spag bol. Mains all €8.50.

Moving back to the thread title, am I correct in assuming you simply walked in off the street, that both reception doors (exterior and interior) were open, that there was no staff member at reception, and that you did not need a card of any kind to enter?

Mid-2010 will tell us a limited amount about mid-2007, but such tiny pieces of information often prove invaluable.

 

At what time of the night was the reception door closed and people off the street could no longer come in and order a pizza?

[pathfinder73]

Good theory but is it a fact?

Yes they used the shortcut and the pathway route leads to the lamppost and then straight across the road to the secondary reception entrance.

[Robittybob1]

Yes they used the shortcut and the pathway route leads to the lamppost and then straight across to the secondary reception entrance.

Show me some evidence please.   

[Brietta]

Well I'm thankful for that clip.

I found it very useful as far as recording the actual walking distance and time taken could be seen in real time.

Thirty four steps ... for athletic young people covering that could be done in seconds.

[pathfinder73]

Show me some evidence please.   

It is well known that Madeleine used the shortcut to and from the creche. Do you think it's safe to bring 3 year old kids along main roads or use a safer pathway route straight to the secondary reception?

From memory, on Tuesday, 1 May 2007, being shown by RUSSELL, he went to pick up MADELEINE at creche using a short-cut that began at the car park opposite the secondary reception and went between the buildings, which he used to fetch and carry his daughter.

Since it was he who went to collect MADELEINE, he is sure he used the short-cut.

----- The deponent and KATE returned to the OCEAN CLUB by the short-cut and at the secondary reception they asked the lady employee if there was a vacant tennis court they could reserve.

http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/GERRY-MCCANN-10MAY.htm

[Robittybob1]

One thing that has really hit home today is that if Madeleine left by the front door there is a wall between her and the car park and she has to run along past her window, 5B, 5C to where the wall ends.  So when she came out of the front door she has not got an option of turning left or right, but only an option of turning to the left.
This image shows the wall is continuous between the apartments and the car park.

[Robittybob1]

The first hazard she would encounter is the step just outside the front door.
This image shows how if she did turn to the right after leaving the front door she is in a blind alley. To get to the Tapas she has to turn to the left.   
Further along she would be faced with the decision of going out across the car park and around the footpath or to go further on to the gap between block 5 and block 4.    The dogs had tracked her along here so she was fully familiar with going between the buildings and along the back alleyway in the daytime at least.

 

[Robittybob1]

There appears to be a slot beside the door knob at the reception. Whether it was working I don't know.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/RICARDO-A-D-L-OLIVEIRA.htm

RICARDO ALEXANDRE DA LUZ OLIVEIRA says "When asked, he says that in order to enter the restaurant it is necessary to present a guest card at the restaurant reception. However, and only for this year the restaurant has been open to public from outside the resort but that in any case he does not remember having seen anyone who was not a guest having had a meal there.
When asked, he says that a few days after guests' arrival he manages to recognise them, however not all of them regularly have meals there."
If the restaurant is open to the public what does that imply? Was the door at the reception kept open so members of the public could enter?
Where is this "restaurant reception" Ricardo talks about?

[sadie]

If pizza was not to your taste, the alternatives were limited.

3 salads.  Goat's cheese. Char grilled chicken and bacon.  Tuna.  Salads €6.50 to €8.50.

4 mains. Marinated chicken breast with a braised butter bean, vegetable and chorizo stew. Lemon and garlic king prawns, chips and lemon mayonnaise.  Gnocci with a wild mushroom and Gorgonzola sauce, fresh rocket and Parmesan shavings.  And of course, spag bol. Mains all €8.50.

Moving back to the thread title, am I correct in assuming you simply walked in off the street, that both reception doors (exterior and interior) were open, that there was no staff member at reception, and that you did not need a card of any kind to enter?

Mid-2010 will tell us a limited amount about mid-2007, but such tiny pieces of information often prove invaluable.

 

Absolutely correct.  Nothing to stop us, nobody in the secondary reception area.  The waiters didn't challenge us or raise any eyebrows.  We were elderly, middleclass and well mannerd.  Maybe had we looked like yobs they might have refused to serve us.  Dunno, but it was mighty quiet in there.

Nobody stopped us having a brief look around the garden area and the outside door of the creche there.  We also wandered briefly into the tapas Bar.  What I couldn't understand was two small tented areas .... roof but no sides.   Maybe they were used for refreshments on a hot day  ... shade from the sun without being enclosed perhaps.


When we are on holiday we regularly walk into other 4* and 5* hotels and we have only been turned away at one.  That was Reids hotel in Madeira, where we went for afternoon tea.  They said that they couldn't allow us in because my hubby was wearing (are they called?) deck shoes.  They were new as were all our clothes, but only M&S, not Marshall and Snelgrove.  What do you think Alice ?

We had a good laugh because it is part of the Orient Express group and we had travelled to Venice on that magnificent train a couple of years previously ... and they thought that we were OK.   

[sadie]

There appears to be a slot beside the door knob at the reception. Whether it was working I don't know.
http://www.mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/RICARDO-A-D-L-OLIVEIRA.htm

RICARDO ALEXANDRE DA LUZ OLIVEIRA says "When asked, he says that in order to enter the restaurant it is necessary to present a guest card at the restaurant reception. However, and only for this year the restaurant has been open to public from outside the resort but that in any case he does not remember having seen anyone who was not a guest having had a meal there.
When asked, he says that a few days after guests' arrival he manages to recognise them, however not all of them regularly have meals there."
If the restaurant is open to the public what does that imply? Was the door at the reception kept open so members of the public could enter?
Where is this "restaurant reception" Ricardo talks about?

According to RICARDO ALEXANDRE DA LUZ OLIVEIRA the restaurant was open to the public .. and that was in 2007.

I think both the outer and the inner doors were open when we ate there in 2010.  It is much easier to go in when the door is ajar rather than closed.  I cant remember any anxiety altho I remember wondering if there would be someone within the reception area.  No-one there tho.

[ShiningInLuz]

Absolutely correct.  Nothing to stop us, nobody in the secondary reception area.  The waiters didn't challenge us or raise any eyebrows.  We were elderly, middleclass and well mannerd.  Maybe had we looked like yobs they might have refused to serve us.  Dunno, but it was mighty quiet in there.

Nobody stopped us having a brief look around the garden area and the outside door of the creche there.  We also wandered briefly into the tapas Bar.  What I couldn't understand was two small tented areas .... roof but no sides.   Maybe they were used for refreshments on a hot day  ... shade from the sun without being enclosed perhaps.

When we are on holiday we regularly walk into other 4* and 5* hotels and we have only been turned away at one.  That was Reids hotel in Madeira, where we went for afternoon tea.  They said that they couldn't allow us in because my hubby was wearing (are they called?) deck shoes.  They were new as were all our clothes, but only M&S, not Marshall and Snelgrove.  What do you think Alice ?

We had a good laugh because it is part of the Orient Express group and we had travelled to Venice on that magnificent train a couple of years previously ... and they thought that we were OK.

Many thanks Sadie.   

[John]

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".

Didn't one of the nannies make a report to the effect that she was concerned that the public had free access to the pool area and gardens and consequently she felt that this was a security lapse.

From Ocean Club's point of view I suppose they wanted to encourage non resident paying customers to visit the bar and restaurant.

[John]

Yes they used the shortcut and the pathway route leads to the lamppost and then straight across the road to the secondary reception entrance.

The difficulty with that is that both tracker dogs stopped at the lamp post and did not carry on towards the creche.  The fact that the scent trail abruptly ends is sinister.

The other important point is that a barefooted child will leave a physical scent trail on the road which endures whereas a child wearing shoes will only leave a minimal trace behind which soon dissipates in the air.

[pathfinder73]

Yes because of the big area being the car park they lost the scent. The first tracking dog crossed the road from the lamppost to the entrance. Madeleine had used that shortcut route from Tuesday 1 May 2007 onwards so it is no surprise that the dogs found her scent there.