Понять, когда писать past simple , а когда past continuous?

ancient and modern  history •  many centuries ago,  our distantunknown  •  •  ancestors of  famous  historians and researchers  •appreciate  the past and present  interest in  the recent events  •  •honor the memory  (to do justice to)  hero (s) of  war

  last summer, i went to turkey on holiday with my brother. we stayed

there for two weeks. i didn't like the hotel but the beach was  fantastic. i did different things - swimming, windsurfing, diving. we met lots of young people