Proud to be the birthplace of famous poet Koco Racin and famous for its pastrmajlija, Veles is just 53km away from the capital. Situated at an altitude of 110m above sea level, the town occupies an area of 1,536 km2 and has 56,750 citizens. Initially named Vila Zora in 168 BC, the town frequently changed its names during the centuries to eventually get the current name VELES (meaning “into the woods”) in the 7th century. During the Middle Ages, Veles was a cultural centre on the Balkans. In the middle of the 19th century Veles became a well-known trading centre in Macedonia. The traders used to export raw leather, leather shoe soles, poppy seed, grain, wine, grape brandy, and other products. With the construction of a Skopje-Thessaloniki railway in 1873, trading declined, which also caused the “gemidzii’ to disappear. The term”gemidzii” also refers to an organization of 12 Macedonians youths, who fought for the liberation of the Macedonian people back in 1903. By sabotaging the institutions of the Ottoman Empire and west European countries in Macedonia, they strongly believed that violence is the only way of solving the problems and drawing attention to the world public to Macedonian issues.