“Greenfinch”
Way out west of the Old City of İstanbul, Florya might not seem the most obvious place for a day trip. However, for families with children it’s a surprisingly good choice with not only a large state-of-the-art aquarium but also some sandy beaches and a great park to soak up time and energy.
Adult visitors may be more interested in the graceful Deniz Köskü (Sea Pavilion) where Atatürk used to come to unwind. There are also a lot of fine restaurants here which are particularly known for their Sunday brunches. 
Around Florya
If you come out of Florya Marmaray station and turn right you will soon come to the Bauhaus-influenced Deniz Köşkü (Sea Pavilion, closed Mondays, small admission fee), a little pavilion at the end of a pier jutting out into the sea from a sandy beach that was designed in 1935 by architect Seyfi Arkan. Atatürk whiled away a total of 42 days here and his visits are immortalised in the photos on display in rooms which are still set up as they were in his day. Subsequent presidents of the Turkish Republic took up Atatürk’s lead and frequented the pavilion although today it’s just a tourist attraction.
If instead you turn left out of the station you will eventually come to the wonderful waterside Florya Sosyal Tesisleri (Florya Socal Facilities). Despite the rather offputting name this is a very fine park that follows the coast of the Sea of Marmara and offers all sorts of unexpected facilities including the city’s first reflexology garden where you can kick off your shoes and give your bare feet a workout on semi-precious stones embedded in the ground.
