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  I had planned to visit Valletta during my stay, and this was an excellent opportunity to put this behind me. We took off leaving the hotel behind. Look at a map and you might believe that the NE corner of Malta is one huge city. And I have almost thought it was Valletta. But Valletta is a very small part of this huge city. About 6000 people live there and the big city is actually many small cities and it is kind of confusing. But I guess it is many small villages that have grown until one very big city and they have all kept their names. Well, anyway, we drove to Valletta and I was impressed by the city, old houses and forts and it looked very good. The streets were so narrow it was almost impossible  City Tour
 City Tour
 City Tour
 City Tour
 City Tour
 City Tour
 City Tour
The eBird hotspot: covers the city of Valletta but I did not see any birds. Well, we stopped at a park, Lower Barrakka Gardens to see if I could see any birds. We get out of the taxi at Lower Barrakka Gardens and I look over the side. I was surprised to see a Luxury Cruiser arriving to Valletta. I thought everything was closed due to the Wuhan Virus. There was a girl walking her dog and she asked what the big ship was. She was shocked when I told her that it was a Cruiser with thousands of passengers. She thought that Malta had stopped the Cruisers because of the virus. She asked what they were doing on Malta. I pointed at the busses at the jetty. I think they will stay on the busses so no contact with people, only going around Malta in busses, not to get off. My Guide told me that the drivers had taken virus test and they were in isolation. So I am sure they have got paid very well by the cruise company. I think this is the first arrival since the outbreak and the companies are desperate to get back to business and we can only guess how much they have paid for this.  Watching the arriving Cruiser
 Watching the arriving Cruiser
 Lower Barrakka Gardens
 Lower Barrakka Gardens
 Lower Barrakka Gardens
 Birding at the Lower Barrakka Gardens
 The Cruiser is almost along side
 View from Lower Barrakka Gardens
I was a little disappointed when I entered Lower Barrakka Gardens. This was a very small garden and I was about to leave. I was very pleasant surprised as there were many birds in the park. I waved at my Driver and I told him that it might take long time here. It was a beautiful park with a gorgeous view over Valletta and surroundings. And I spotted many birds but not so many pictures as it was shadow in and under the trees. I could have spent hours here but there are more places to visit. Sardinian Warbler, Curruca melanocephala, Western Subalpine Warbler, Curruca iberiae, Spanish Sparrow or Willow Sparrow, Passer hispaniolensis   Western Subalpine Warbler
   Sardinian Warbler
I restarted my eBird app and we left for the Upper Barrakka Gardens and I am still using the hotspot “Valletta” We drive up to the top of Valletta and the park Upper Barrakka Gardens in I think this is the highest top in Valletta.
I get out of the taxi and I am full of expectations after coming from the beautiful Lower Barakka Gardens. But I was soon to get disappointed. The place was full of pigeons and not so many places to see bird at so I did not spend much time here. Most time was spent looking out over the city as it was a beautiful view from the Upper Barrakka Gardens.  Upper Barrakka Gardens
 Upper Barrakka Gardens
 Lower Barrakka Gardens seen from Upper Barrakka Gardens
 Catamaran leaving the marina
 One of the marinas
   The Cruiser have all fast at the jetty
 Today's track in Valletta - 1st checklist
 Today's track in Valletta - 2nd checklist
 Outside Upper Barrakka Gardens
 Long narrow streets
 Western Subalpine Warbler
 Robin under a tree
I left Upper Barrakka Gardens and we have another eBird hotspot: close by, the “Floriana Mall” There is 4 hotspots in the city and the park at the “Floriana Mall” A beautiful park and I enjoyed walking around looking for birds. But the Robin, I could hear several of them, but the one a saw was in the shadow under one of the trees so the picture was not any good. I was happy when I left Floriana Mall as it had been a nice walk around the park. Now I have two remaining eBird hotspots in the city. So I want to visit these two hotspots, “National cemetery” and “Marsa Sports Ground” and then I will never have to return to the big city again. We start at the “National cemetery” and we were soon to realize that there was no access to the area. Seems like they are going to do some construction work in the area.  National cemetery
 National cemetery
 National cemetery
 National cemetery
We left the National cemetery and next and last stop in the city is the eBird hotspot: “Marsa Sports Ground”. Horse track, golf and other sport grounds and we will check out the area. Pretty much nothing until we found a rain drainage canal. The canal is dry expect for a very small water flow in the middle of the canal and some puddles. We drove down in the canal and we drove along on the concrete to see if we found any birds. We ran in to one bird that I had never seen before, the Eurasian Wryneck. Thanks to Matt at CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS for ID.  Driving in the canal
 Driving in the canal
  Eurasian Wryneck / Northern Wryneck
 Eurasian Wryneck / Northern Wryneck
 Eurasian Wryneck / Northern Wryneck
 Eurasian Wryneck / Northern Wryneck
There were also warblers and of course millions of Spanish Sparrows. There are White and Yellow Wagtails in the puddles in the canal. The wagtails are as usually hard to get on picture. We make it end to end in the canal and we drive up on the road again. There was nothing to see at the horse track and there was no hoopoes on the football fields. I have not managed to get any pictures of any Hoopoes on Cyprus and no pictures here on Malta.   White Wagtail
 Today's track at Marsa Sports Ground
 Summer Residence
 Dingli Cliffs
 Dingli Cliffs
We leave for the hotspot Buskett Gardens close to the Prime Minister's summer residence. It is an orange orchard and it was nice to walk around in the area. And I got to see some birds in the garden. We drive to the Dingli Cliffs but there was not many birds to see along the cliffs. We stop to buy some traditional Maltese pastries on the way back to the hotel. Pazztriatis or something like that. We enjoyed them on a bench at a small park and it tasted very good. I will stay home tomorrow, have a walk looking for birds and also to go through my pictures. My Driver will come to pick me up on Saturday again. I will walk around the area outside my hotel to look for birds tomorrow. Click HERE to find out if we see any birds on Saturday. 
    
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