One of the things in my country sparked my taste in history were:
The statue of Viriato; One of the first guerrilla tactics user ever, proved to me that sticks and stones brake bones, especially if you were a roman, he went from fisherman to chief of the Lusitanos and not only defended but counter attacked the Romans conquering alot of provinces.
When i as in the 9th grade i went to the newly discovered roman ruins (Eburobrittium) in Óbidos here in Portugal and i sneaked of the group and
got myself some 308 BC roof tiles and brick with roman markings and a premium tour (me and my friends sneaked of again) of the sewer system, it was creepy and we got jumped by a MYTHICAL CRRREATURE a small mice eating snake, scary and cool none the less. It's because of these adventures that i'm so interested in history.
Same thing in Castel of óbidos, we had to fill up a quiz which asked the date of death of some old medieval time priest, we were supposed to ask local folk about it, not this Indiana jones, i jumped some ropes into his funeral chamber and just read it of his tomb!