ABSTRACT
This transformation is never absolute, and the step-by-step evolution has not been as straightforward as many theories suggest. Indeed local identities and traditions live on in rural and mountain regions, and local identities are part of a complex mélange of identities, local, ethnic, linguistic, mixed with regional, national and European (ReedDanahay, 1996), No doubt the presence of the Basque and their linguistic and political
distinctive ness has prolonged the perception of the isolation of the Pyrenees, but the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the recreational facilities being built along the Atlantic coast and in the mountains, and the regionalist initiatives of the EU are several among many signs of greater integration.
