The Alentejo, due east of Lisbon, has always been one of our favorite areas in Portugal, where wildflowers, cork oaks and olive trees spread across wide-open fields.  During our drives, we’d occasionally spy a shepherd resting in the shade of an oak tree while his flock grazed nearby—a scene right out of Virgil’s Bucolics. Narrow country lanes wind past farmhouses or up to walled villages on the hills near the Spanish border. Behind those walls were whitewashed homes, taverns and churches. Here’s a selection of springtime images from the region: