The smell of grilled sauerkraut, onions and sausage permeates the marketplace in the main square. If you want a completely traditional Christmas meal in Slovakia, it includes cabbage soup (kapustnica), fried fish and potato salad. I have to say that I'd only eat the third choice. Potatoes, prepared any way, are my favorite food.

Of course, even better than anything fried up with all kinds of oil, is a pastry covered with lots of sugar, cinnamon or vanilla. In Slovakia (as well as the Czech Republic and Hungary) the traditional option is trdelnik. I don't know how to actually pronounce it, but it looks suspiciously like "turtleneck". The dessert is cooked over hot coals, toasted a golden brown, sprinkled with any of those three options and served up warm. And, just like other fried foods you can think of, it is finger lickin' good.