A record number of cars and people crossed the Bulgarian-Greek border in one day, September 6, Bulgaria's Unification Day, for which the country is in a four-day holiday.

Over 15 500 cars and 56 000 people crossed the Bulgarian-Greece border at the Kulata-Promachonas crossing point on Thursday between 8 am and 4 pm EET, announced Boyko Bozhkov, head of the Border Police Directorate in Bulgaria's Smolyan, as cited by the Focus news agency.

The Kulata-Promachonas border crossing, the shortest route between Sofia and Thessaloniki, usually handles 2/3 of all traffic between Bulgaria and Greece, and Bulgaria's Unification Day was no exception.

The Zlatograd border crossing also saw substantial traffic, with 1 900 vehicles and 8 700 people crossing the border with Greece there.

The same kind of traffic intensity is expected on the Bulgarian-Greek border on Sunday, the day before Bulgarians get back to work after the four days off for Unification Day.

Bozhkov has recommended that travelers use the Ilinden border crossing to the east in order to avoid huge traffic jams at Kulata.

The Institute for Analyses and Estimates in Tourism, a private think-tank, has estimated that 85 000 Bulgarians will travel abroad during the Unification Day holiday, while 280 000 will travel for a vacation in Bulgaria.