Hello and welcome to the Europeans.

I'm Mick Tarewurst, co-founder of Arwee Europe, the continent's most beautiful magazine, and proud host of this miniseries.

Katie and Dominic are still away, so lazy.

But it leaves me with the opportunity to listen to these beautiful stories with you.

We hope you enjoyed last week's episode as much as we did, and so here's the second installment of the chain, a podcast series

celebrating the things Europeans love about each other's countries and cultures. It's part of

the Summer of Solidarity, a pop-up journalism project that brings a much-needed positivity right now.

This week, we're hopping from Sweden to France, France to Spain, and Spain to Austria.

And the first story is pretty unusual and that it doesn't actually come from a human.

Ellie is a collie golden retriever who lives in Sweden.

And last year she took a 23-day road trip through the heart of Europe, down to France, and back again.

This is the story of what Ellie saw and smelt, as told by her mother, the author Julie Lindahl.

My parents were loading the car to go somewhere. I flopped down on the terrace feeling gloomy.

It didn't look like there was room for me.

Every dog's nightmare is to be left behind by the pack.

But soon, the magic call came from my father.

Come, Ellie Girl, let's go, hop in the car.

My father, who smelled of jam, butter and burnt toast, switched on the radio and started the engine.

Have you got her passport? he asked my mother.

She smelled of sweet moisturiser and sweat.

I watched her rummage in her bag and pull out a dark booklet with a circle of stars on the cover.

Inside it was a picture of me, so proper, she couldn't imagine there would be any problems during

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