Vasil Liaze

Over 300,000 people, mostly Bulgarian tourists, visited the Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Istanbul since it was reopened two years ago, executives of a foundation overseeing the monumental building have said.

Orthodox Easter has caused a boom in the number of tourists coming to Istanbul. Tourists coming from the Balkan countries, especially Bulgaria, by hundreds of buses made use of this four-day Easter holiday and filled the hotels in Laleli and Sultanahmet.