The sunset views from Table Mountain are very famous, and supposedly one of the most beautiful in the whole world — especially because of the panoramic view of Cape Town’s amazing coastline and the sprawling city below.

Seeing this sunset from the top of Table Mountain has long been on my bucket list and I really wanted to be on top of the mountain as the sun went down, as everyone who has been to Cape Town has told me not to miss the sunset from Table Mountain.

For this momentous occasion, we decided to take a food hamper up Table Mountain for a little picnic while watching what is supposed to be one of the most gorgeous sunsets in the world.

So we ordered a food hamper from our hotel, the Mount Nelson, which is Cape Town’s most historic and famous hotel, and we took it up Table Mountain. Luckily, the hotel could prepare a beautiful Victorian picnic basket with no problems. They had all the paraphernalia for a fancy picnic.

They even had a proper menu from which you could order all kinds of easy-to-eat food for your picnic basket.

However, not too many people seem to think about bringing up a picnic basket to Table Mountain. The hotel driver who drove us from the Mount Nelson to the Table Mountain cable car terminal, took one look at our picnic hamper when we got into the car and complimented us on this great idea.

As we made our way through Cape Town’s winding roads and up the mountain, the driver said: “I’ve never seen guests bring a picnic hamper up Table Mountain before.“

Well, if we were the first ones to do this, I can certainly recommend this as a Travelife way of enjoying Table Mountain’s sunset. It was so nice to find a spot to see the sunset and to have some food to enjoy the view with.

We’d ordered all the sandwiches on the picnic hamper menu for a traditional English afternoon tea — the Mount Nelson is famous for its afternoon tea — and a delicious Greek salad besides. The sandwiches included smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese, and chicken sandwiches.

The picnic hamper itself was beautiful — just like the old-fashioned picnic hampers that English people once brought along for a day of sitting by the Thames River, for example.

And when we opened the hamper on a bench, we certainly attracted a lot of attention.

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As we were enjoying our picnic, a South African lady even came over to inspect the picnic hamper closely. She said: “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.” Indeed, everything was immaculate and so prettily prepared.

Then she asked us: “Where did you get this beautiful picnic basket?”

There were some people sitting around Table Mountain with bags of food as well, but no one had anything close to our beautiful picnic basket.

We answered: “From the Mount Nelson.“

That seemed to answer everything, as far as the lady was concerned.

“Oh the Mount Nelson,” she exclaimed. “Of course.”

Then she brought over a couple more people to closely inspect our picnic basket. I was certainly amused at the commotion, although a part of me, of course, wanted to be left to eat in peace.

But we so enjoyed this picnic on Table Mountain, gazing at one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.

And when we finally got down from the mountain just as the sun had set, we headed straight for the very cozy but lively Planet Bar of the Mount Nelson with plans for a nightcap of champagne and oysters.

A pretty nice way to tick off an item on our bucket list, and just another day in our never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

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