Short trip around a country (5)
I believe the answer is:
spain
'country' is the definition.
(I know that Spain is a European country)
'short trip around a' is the wordplay.
'short trip' becomes 'spin' (as in going for a spin).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'spin' enclosing 'a' is 'SPAIN'.
(Other definitions for spain that I've seen before include "European nation" , "European monarchy" , "Country bordering Andorra" , "part of Europe" , "country of mostly dry mountains, going by air" .)