Weird, dark underbelly to this place?

[Almondcakefortea]

The Algarve?

This poor man who recently went missing on his stag do and was very sadly found dead.
Madeleine McCann of course
Reading up on things and apparently so many reports of people going missing over the years or bodies being found

Feels strange

Vale do lobo?

How did you witness it?

100%

To be fair, I have never seen this here once

Was that the little boy who was taken when he was out riding on his bike?

If so, that broke my heart. I didn’t know he had been spotted in abuse imagery. Poor little soul.

I stayed up past my bed time!

How old was your daughter when this happened? Whereabouts were you in these countries? I’m terribly sorry this has happened to you. I’ve been to these countries too and never seen sexual harassment of children in the streets.

They weren't unlucky, they were outright neglectful.

Agree, we went on holiday as a family to the Algarve a few times from late 80s to early 90s. Villa was broken into while we were home in the evening. Man just walked in, he wasn’t Portuguese. There was a lot of crime there, burglaries and sexual assaults (often during a burglary), blamed on tourists.

Just after Madeline went missing the British Police were looking into a lot of similar crimes where villas/apartments broken into and young girls sexually assaulted / raped, none were abducted but most were primary aged (not toddlers). We never went back after the break in.

Sadly, they do

They weren't unlucky. no sensible and responsible parents wouid have left 3 under 3s in an unlocked apartment while they went out for the evening,

They were neglectful and irresponsible but as they were doctors it wasn't focused on. If they had been a couple on benefits or in low income employment I'm sure it would have been very different

@YellowBun Dd was 12 and older. The city was Hull but it happened elsewhere. Not in central London though.

France: Paris and the arse end of nowhere in Normandy

Italy: Rome, Sicily, trains between cities. Rome is the worst, a totally different experience if you are accompanied by a man to when you are by yourself. It was worse than Marrakesh, where although I got hassle, it wasn’t sexual hassle. Istanbul was also fine.

In Sicily I went out for a walk in the day for some reason, leaving my Dd with her dad back at the hotel and it was bizarre, men leaned out of cars and hissed which I didn’t know was a thing.

I think if you are a man or if you drive everywhere or tend to go out in a mixed group or with a male partner then you don’t see it. I like to walk and use public transport where possible rather than use a car.

Lots of friends of mine in the U.K. get catcalled and insulted when they go for a run. It’s not at all rare unfortunately. My daughter has large breasts and when she was training for a marathon three years ago she got comments shouted all the time but not if her husband went out with her.

Where?

I’m sorry but if you looked solely at the bad news stories from any country then the vast majority would look like complete shit shows.

@YellowBun Hull was the only city where it happened when she was in her school uniform but it happened elsewhere at the same age. She didn’t look adult, she was about 5ft or under with a baby face, very, very slim but with developing breasts. She actually looked underage until her late 20’s as she has a baby face and very white, smooth skin.

The catcalling when running is in Nottingham.

I’ve holidayed in Portugal quite a few times in the past few years, in Albufeira. Found the people to be lovely. I could tell you a few hairy stories from the strip, but every single one of these involved drunken adults (usually from the UK) getting themselves into situations! That being said, I much prefer Portugal to Spain. I think the Algarve gets a bad rep because of the Madeleine McCann case - so anything that happens there is going to stand out, despite the fact these things happen all over the place.

So sorry for your daughter. I’ve lived in Rome alone, and the men were tiringly always trying it on, but respectful. I lived in central london and never saw or had this kind of issue.
The only places I’ve had disturbing treatment like this was in Tunisia and Morocco.

A very sad case indeed. However, given the context of the thread, it's worth pointing out that Rui Pedro was trafficked from northern Portugal, some 500km from the Algarve.

My Goodness don’t come to Belfast then OP

Portugal has some amazing places, a few even in the Algarve. YABVU.

Pssst! What happens in the gardening topic, stays in the gardening topic. Just don’t ask for recommendations for a hoe.

Absolute nonsense.

It happened to me on holiday there back in the 1980s. The rep shrugged and said it happened all the time.