I'm on the same path and, as you don't posted the solution that you found (if you found it), I'll add here some future reference for anyone facing this problem.
I'll break the question in two parts: Eliminating host:port and changing how the URL behave.
I don't have a complete response to the first, however if you chose to listen at port 80, by HTML standard, you will supress the port on the URL, getting half the solution you want.
The second part, changing the URL behavior and/or shortening it can be achieved by either using mod_rewrite in apache or Tuckey's URL Rewrite Filter (http://www.tuckey.org/urlrewrite/). A google search using URL Rewrite can achieve you a more in depth explanation and there's a guide on the website.
You should, however, update your question with an answer, if you found one.