Juan Convers

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Basel Herbstmesse. This year, I had the chance to ride the Ferris wheel again, which they usually set up in Münsterplatz. From the top, I snapped this picture—showing the cathedral and the Rhine River in the background. The view is amazing, and it gives a nice vie on the city!

Even though I've been going to this fair for years, I realized I’d never actually read up on its history. Turns out, it’s not just any fair; it’s the oldest and largest in Switzerland. It’s been held in Basel since 1471! The fair was first allowed by Emperor Friedrich III and started out as a market for selling goods and livestock. Hard to imagine that now, with all the rides, food stalls, and fun attractions we see today.

The fair’s changed a lot over the centuries, but it’s amazing how it still feels like a local tradition and brings the whole city together every year. If you’re ever in Basel during Herbstmesse, I definitely recommend a ride on the Ferris wheel for those city views—it’s worth it!

Europe's Eurostat ( European Statistical Office ), offers a really useful tool called IMAGE, which allows users to create professional thematic maps using NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) boundaries and statistical regions. The tool is user-friendly and offers a wide range of customization options, including color schemes, data classification methods, and labels.

Using this tool, I created the image above, highlighting stark contrasts in life expectancy across European regions. Switzerland and Spain lead with impressive numbers, with some Spanish regions reaching a life expectancy of up to 85.2 years. Swiss citizens also enjoy longevity, with most regions reporting life expectancies between 83 and 84.6 years. In contrast, Bulgaria presents a different picture, with life expectancy as low as 72.3 years in some regions – revealing a gap of nearly 13 years compared to the highest in Europe.

Even within countries, significant variations exist. Take Belgium, where life expectancy ranges from 79.2 to 83.2 years across different regions. Germany shows similar regional disparities. The map also highlights the relatively low life expectancy in Eastern Europe, with most regions in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary reporting figures below 75 years.

As I mentioned in my last post, a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the Valencian city of Alicante. One of the most interesting experiences during this trip was spending a day on Tabarca Island, located just an hour's ferry ride from Alicante (the journey can tak only 20 minutes from the town of Santa Pola).

The island is tiny but incredibly beautiful. It has been declared a marine reserve due to its diverse aquatic life and is surrounded by stunning, crystal-clear blue waters. One of the activities I enjoyed during this visit was walking from the port through the small town to the end of the main street, which leads to "Porta de la Trancada" (Trancada Gate).

There, I stored my clothes, put on my goggles, and easily spent an hour exploring the various fish species that can be observed, as well as swimming to the "Ilot de la Cantera" (Quarry Islet) where, at that moment, there was absolutely no one else around. I have a beautiful memory of being in this amazing place, enveloped by total peace.

Later in the day, I wandered through the town, crisscrossing its narrow streets until I stumbled upon a truly authentic restaurant. There, I enjoyed the 'Menu del Día,' which included a fresh salad, crispy fried sardines and shrimp, followed by an authentic Valencian paella. The meal was so satisfying, it kept me full for the rest of the day!

Frankly, I'm very eager to return there someday.

The Castle of Santa Bárbara in Alicante is a historic fortress located on Mount Benacantil, a hill overlooking the city and the Mediterranean Sea. Today, it is one of Alicante’s most prominent landmarks and a popular tourist destination.

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to visit this interesting place. There are different ways to reach the castle, including taking an elevator, but I decided to walk all the way up. I passed through the beautiful ancient neighborhood of Santa Cruz, with its picturesque houses, then crossed the Parc de l'Ereta, and finally reached the castle. This huge complex is quite fascinating, offering plenty of information about its origins, significance, and successive renovations, destruction, and restoration. I spent a couple of hours exploring the castle, and it was totally worth it.

AnimeGAN is a deep learning model designed to convert real-world images or videos into anime-style artwork. Using this model, it's possible to transform photos into nice anime-style images that look like they were taken a Japanese animation.

A couple of weeks ago I passed by this place early in the morning I was able to capture a nice photo of the beach. I decided to use the Tenorflow.js version of this AnimeGAN model to convert the photo into an anime-style image. The result is quite interesting as you can observe in the image above. Next page