Al-Khawagat — the name means "the foreigners" in Arabic — takes its name from the Greek, Jewish, and Lebanese merchants who once dominated its stalls. Mansoura, like many Delta cities, had a substantial Levantine trading class in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and this covered market was their commercial heart. By the mid-twentieth century most had emigrated, but the market kept going under Egyptian ownership and has never really slowed down.
Today the stalls sell textiles, galabiyas, brass and aluminium ware, household goods, shoes, and the kind of miscellany that suggests someone is always buying something. It is loud, crowded, and entirely unhurried by tourist expectations. The light inside the older covered sections is dim and pleasant; the smell is a mix of spices, coffee, and hot metal from a brazier somewhere near the back. Come in the morning when the stalls are fully stocked and the tea glasses are being passed around. Bargaining is expected and conducted without drama.